"They praise me and make an ass of me, now my foes tell me plainly - TopicsExpress



          

"They praise me and make an ass of me, now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass. So that by my foes, sir I profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my friends, I am abused. So that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why then the worse for my friends and the better for my foes." Twelfth Night (V.1.15-21). Modern English version: "Well, my friends praise me and make me look like an idiot, while my enemies tell me straightforwardly that I am an idiot. My enemies help me understand myself better, which is an advantage, and my friends help me lie about myself, which is a disadvantage. So if four negatives make two affirmatives, I’m worse off because of my friends and better off because of my foes."
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 19:55:18 +0000

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