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BSquared18
08-05-2011, 12:37 PM
Hello,

I want to use the following quote from Shakespeare:

Listen to many,
speak to a few.

Most quotes you find online give a play or sonnet, etc as the source. All I've found for this quote is Shakespeare's name. Can anyone tell me where it came from?

Thanks,
Bill

wessexgirl
08-05-2011, 01:31 PM
Hello,

I want to use the following quote from Shakespeare:

Listen to many,
speak to a few.

Most quotes you find online give a play or sonnet, etc as the source. All I've found for this quote is Shakespeare's name. Can anyone tell me where it came from?

Thanks,
Bill

I think it's Polonius from Hamlet.

BSquared18
08-05-2011, 03:03 PM
Thanks. I thought it sounded like him but couldn't find it in any of the searchable versions of Shakespeare. After your response, I searched some more and discovered why. The original text is

Give every man thy ear,
but few thy voice;

Which sounds much better than the modern version.

Bill

Hopfrog
08-05-2011, 10:38 PM
Great Jesu, I am utterly scandalized that there are "updatings" or rewritings of Shakespeare!!! I must be living under a rock as I had absolutely no clue of this. I swoon with horror at the very idea!!! Eeeeeeeeek!