Chapter 3 POLONIUS'S ADVICE

HAMLET, ACT I, SCENE 3.

Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,

Bear it, that the opposed may beware of thee.

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy:

For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be:

For loan oft loses both itself and friend;

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

This above all,--to thine own self be true;

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

HELPS TO STUDY.

Notes and Questions.

"unproportioned"--not worthy or fitting the occasion.

"familiar"--courteous, friendly.

"vulgar"-unduly familiar.

"their adoption tried"--tested by long acquaintance.

"dull thy palm"--lose discrimination.

"censure"--opinion.

"expressed in fancy"--loud, ostentatious.

"husbandry"--thrift.

Put in your own words:

"Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act."

"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."

"The apparel oft proclaims the man."

"Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."

Words and Phrases for Discussion.

"hoops of steel"

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