To the modern ear it means that you are healthier and happier when you act according to your own personal convictions and beliefs rather than acting to please others. This is a nice sentiment, but much harder to do than to say. Life is filled with compromizes, and we have to follow many rules and conventions that we may not agree with. As issues become more and more crucial, we have to decide how much ground we are willing to give. In life and death situations, the persons are rare who are willing to put their lives at risk in support of a deeply held conviction.
Thinking about it in this way, Shakespeare's use of the line in Polonius' advice to Laertes [Hamlet] is richly ironic. Polonius has more in mind that being 'true' is being devoted to one's self-interests, in sharp contrast to the more idealistic interpretation above. So being 'true' may in fact involve acting in ways to please others, if doing so advances one's own goals or status.
The quote "To thine own self be true" was written by Shakespeare. This appears in a speech by Polonius in Hamlet. This is NOT in the Bible.
In the quotation 'To thine own self be true' thine is used for the word 'your'. It says 'Be true to yourself'.
To thine own self be true: היה נכון לעצמך (heyeh nachon le'atsmecha)
He's showing his true colors. To thine own self be true.
Translating to contemporary English "Be true to yourself."
"This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man " --- Shakespeare in his play Hamlet
Grammar. "Thine" is used before a word beginning with a vowel (like the difference between "a" and "an"). Shakespeare wrote "thine," of course. (Elizabethan grammar was a flexible thing, but not in this case.)
"Know thyself" is an ancient aphorism of uncertain authorship. "To thine own self be true is said by the fictional character Polonius in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.
Thine Own Self was created on 1994-02-14.
90210 - 2008 To Thine Own Self Be True 2-10 is rated/received certificates of: Netherlands:6 USA:TV-14
"This above all: to thine own self be true."
I think Shakespeare said it best: "To thine own self be true."
It is in the play Hamlet and is spoken by the character Polonius.
The line is from Shakespeare (Hamlet I iii): 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.Francis Bacon expresses the idea also, in Of Wisdom for a Man's Self: Be so true to thyself, as thou be not false to others.
polonius says this quote in the Shakespeares play "HAMLET"
The motto of Glen Eden Intermediate School is 'To Thine Own Self Be True'.
Make It or Break It - 2009 To Thine Own Self Be True 2-17 was released on: USA: 9 May 2011 USA: 9 May 2011 Japan: 10 February 2013
It's part of a long series of pieces of advice given to his son Laertes.
The cast of To Thine Own Self Be True - 2001 includes: John Altobello III as Mr. Lombardi Chris Bambace as Bam Ethan Crough as Ean Sarah Gurfield as Nurse Brandee Sanders as Rapper Girl Sara Sokolic as Philosophy Girl
"This above all: to thine own self be true" is a quote from Hamlet by Shakespeare.
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.
"To thine own self be true / And it must follow like the night the day / Thou canst not then be false to any man."
Eyeball, assassination, "to thine own self be true", "there's method in his madness", "it was Greek to me" and hordes of others.
Sons of Anarchy - 2008 To Thine Own Self 5-11 was released on: USA: 20 November 2012
That quote is not from the Bible; it's from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 78-81. Polonius is speaking to his son, Laertes."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.Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!"