Top 2 Hamlet quotes
“Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear’t 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 express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous chief in that.
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.”
Polonius, Act 1 Scene 3
The quote covers a bit of fatherly advice that Polonius shares with Laertes right as he prepares to depart for Paris. This warm scene of a loving relationship between a father and son is preceded by a tense scene featuring Hamlet and the complicated relationship he shares with Claudius, who is both his stepfather and uncle. The dialogue contains general affirmations and is meant to indicate the normalcy of Laertes's household in contrast to Hamlet's family situation.
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Marcellus, Act 1 Scene 4
This utterance by one of the soldiers during Hamlet's encounter with the Ghost develops the theme of the state as a diseased body. The characters in the play link the health and well-being of the royal family with the fortune of the nation. It is thus natural for the soldier to conclude that his country is diseased as he watches the prince of the royal family go into the dark to confer with the ghost of his father.
