| See thou character. 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. |
