138 MERCY
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
The 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-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel : but, being in,
Bear 5 t that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few tky voice ;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy ; rich, not gaudy :
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
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;
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 18
