by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: July 09, 2007   Last Updated: January 05, 2009

Ah, Shakespeare. English speaking people who have never heard of Sshakespeare are often heard repeating his phrases. It sometimes seems he had common sense sayings all wrapped up and ready to be spoken on stage at the Globe theater, at the drop of a hat. How these came to be remembered is nothing short of miraculous since he never wrote down his plays. Others did this for him, and the world has been forever grateful.

Some delicious food for thought: "Why then the World is my oyster, Which I with sword will open". (Merry Wives of Windsor)

"The smallest worm will squirm, being trodden on." (King Henry x1)

"But he that filches from my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed." (Othello)

"Ill grows the wind that profits nobody." (Henry X1)

And ill grows a writer when he does nothing but fill up his manuscript with nothing but borrowings from another. Even Shakespeare, had an inkling that some writings - and perhaps himself - often relied too much on the sayings of others. What makes this 'canned' wisdom so easy to use is its immediate fit to some sentiment that we want to present to others.

In speaking when fewer words are often advisable, quoting another's well used wisdom is sometimes a good thing, but in truth if they are used due to laziness writers would be better off writing original thoughts. Literarily speaking, a better fit would be if we thought about the idea the saying generated and present them in our own words. Essentially, that is what writers do. We do this when researching. We get the meaning but write it down in our own words. Even when doing this we must give credit if it is something unique to that author and is not public knowledge.

Still, that does not mean we are not eternally grateful to Shakespeare. Even here he answers. "I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people".

"This above all, to thine own self be true, / and it must follow, as the nuight the day / Thou canst not then be false to any man". (Hamlet)

"There is nothing either good or bad that thinking makes it so". (Hamlet)

"The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on". (King Henry X1)

"It's an ill wind that blows that profits no one". (Henry V1)

"Goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow". (Romeo and Juliet)

"Crabbed age and youth cannot live together". (The Passionate Pilgrim)

"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet". (Romeo and Juliet)

"But love is blind and lovers cannot see / the pretty follies they themselves commit". (Merchant of Venice)

"Condemn the fault and not the actor of it". (Measure for Measure)

My concluding thought is, did he properly give them credit? Who, you ask? Those from whom he probably filched some of those phrases. It is a well known fact he often borrowed from others.

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