# Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act. # Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. # Those 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-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. # Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. # Give every man thy 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 of a 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 ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Polonius's advice to his son is not restricted to friendship, and does not appear to be organized. As well as advice about friendship, he offers precepts about fashion, fighting, domestic economy ("neither a borrower nor a lender be") and general deportment. The intent of the speech is that Polonius should seem to be long-winded, filled with self-importance, boring and somewhat hypocritical. The most famous advice, "to thy own self be true" contrasts starkly with Polonius's instructions to Reynaldo later on.
this lengthy speech he tells his son to always listen and avoid giving advice/speaking too much. In Polonius'
don't think polonius follows his advice by sending someone to spy on his son he proves this to be true
Polonius said it to his son Laertes as a piece of advice before he left to Paris
Polonius never gives advice to Hamlet. He interacts with him four times: when he accosts Hamlet in the hall when he is reading (what do you read, my lord? words, words, words), when he comes to tell Hamlet that the players have come (Buz, buz) and during and after the First Player's speech about Hecuba, during the Mousetrap (I did enact Julius Caesar), and to tell Hamlet to see his mother (very like a whale). During these conversations Hamlet constantly has Polonius on his off foot, and Polonius would never have a chance to offer advice. He does, of course offer a lot of advice to his son Laertes, but nobody would confuse Laertes with Hamlet.
This is a part of a long speech by Polonius in Hamlet, giving a lot of tedious advice to his son Laertes. It means basically listen to everybody but only express your opinions to a few people.
William Shakespeare, in Hamlet, uses humor in creating Polonius. He is comical as he tries to keep tabs on Laertes and Ophelia reminding us that fathers can not be trusted to watch over families.
this lengthy speech he tells his son to always listen and avoid giving advice/speaking too much. In Polonius'
don't think polonius follows his advice by sending someone to spy on his son he proves this to be true
Polonius said it to his son Laertes as a piece of advice before he left to Paris
Laertes.
What Polonius says might seem like practical and wise advice. His closing exhortation, "to thy own self be true" is often sententiously quoted. The significance of this fatherly advice is that when we find out, in Act 2 Scene 1, that Polonius is sending a spy to check up on Laertes by slandering him about the town, we realize that Polonius himself is not to himself true and he is, as we increasingly find out, false to every man. He doesn't expect Laertes to listen to his wise advice, because he wouldn't think of following it himself. He is just putting on a show.
Polonius says this to his son Laertes. Polonius is one of the most underhand and dishonest characters in the entire play. (In fact he is killed while trying to spy on Hamlet a few scenes later). Draw your own conclusion.
Polonius never gives advice to Hamlet. He interacts with him four times: when he accosts Hamlet in the hall when he is reading (what do you read, my lord? words, words, words), when he comes to tell Hamlet that the players have come (Buz, buz) and during and after the First Player's speech about Hecuba, during the Mousetrap (I did enact Julius Caesar), and to tell Hamlet to see his mother (very like a whale). During these conversations Hamlet constantly has Polonius on his off foot, and Polonius would never have a chance to offer advice. He does, of course offer a lot of advice to his son Laertes, but nobody would confuse Laertes with Hamlet.
This is a part of a long speech by Polonius in Hamlet, giving a lot of tedious advice to his son Laertes. It means basically listen to everybody but only express your opinions to a few people.
Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia.
give him good advice with words and actions and never be two faced
Much of it is very superficial, but most of it boils down to this: "Be cautious." Polonius tells Laertes to keep his thoughts to himself, and not to act on them without consideration, to stick with friends he knows he can trust, avoid unnecessary fighting, to listen to others but (again), to keep his opinions to himself, to neither lend money or borrow it, but live within his means. All of these are different examples of living cautiously and prudently.
ctfu