As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
William ShakespeareRead
They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that people have absorbed knowledge from various languages and cultures, but only in a superficial way.
In this quote, Shakespeare reflects on how individuals engage with multiple languages, likening it to a feast where they only take 'scraps' rather than fully integrating the richness of each language and its culture. This speaks to the broader idea that while one may be exposed to various ideas and languages, true understanding and mastery require more than mere surface-level interaction.
Themes
LanguagesCultureKnowledgeUnderstandingSuperficial
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about multilingualism, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of deep learning.
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