Laertes Quotes

“In a time of disorder [Laertes] has returned to the care of the earth, the foundation of life and hope. And Odysseus finds him in an act emblematic of the best and most responsible kind of agriculture: an old man caring for a young tree.”
― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

“Lay her i’ the earth;
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring!”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“There is a willow grows askant the brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.
There on the pendant boughs her crownet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up;
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“¡Todavía aquí, Laertes! ¡A bordo, a bordo! ¡Qué vergüenza! El viento sopla en la popa de tu nave, y sólo aguardan tu llegada. Acércate. ¡Que mi bendición sea contigo! Y procura imprimir en la memoria estos pocos preceptos: No propales tus pensamientos ni ejecutes nada inconveniente. Sé sencillo, pero en modo alguno vulgar. Los amigos que escojas y cuya adopción hayas puesto a prueba, sujétalos a tu alma con garfios de acero, pero no encallezcas tu mano con agasajos a todo camarada recién salido sin plumas del cascarón. Guárdate de entrar en pendencia: pero, una vez en ella, obra de modo que sea el contrario quien se guarde de ti. Presta a todos tu oído, pero a pocos tu voz. Oye las censuras de los demás, pero reserva tu juicio. Que tu vestido sea tan costoso como tu bolsa lo permita, pero sin afectación a la hechura; rico, mas no extravagante, porque el traje revela al sujeto, y en Francia las personas de más alta alcurnia y posición son de esto modelo de finura y esplendidez. No pidas ni des prestado a nadie, pues el prestar hace perder a un tiempo el dinero y al amigo, y el tomar prestado embota el filo de la economía. Y, sobre todo, esto: sé sincero contigo mismo y de ello se seguirá, como la noche al día, que no puedes ser falso con nadie. ¡Adiós! Que mi bendición haga fructificar en ti todo esto.”
― William Shakespeare

“Conviene pues, no omitir precaución alguna, pues la mayor seguridad estriba en el temor prudente. La juventud, aun cuando nadie la combate, halla en sí misma su propio enemigo.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“Then, if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his master importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister.
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes.
The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are more imminent.
Be wary then. Best safety lies in fear.
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou cannot not then be false to any man.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee!”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“Be buried quick with her, and so will I.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“give order that these bodies
High on a stage by placed to the view.
And let me speak to the unknowing world
How these things came about. So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fallen on th'inventors' heads. All this can I
Truly deliver.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet