"This, above all, to thine own self be true." can u tell me where it comes from, what it means,?

Question

and what it means to u. thankx!!

its like 5.30am here,and its due in 3 hours!
help ..anything.

umm kind of
thankx it helps

Answer 1

First answer is not quite right. It is from Hamlet. It's Polonius' advice to his son, Laertes, as Laertes leaves for university.
A modern rendition of 'to thine own self be true' might be in the phrase 'keep it real'. That is, be honest about who you are and do not compromise your morals or ethics.
Hope that helps.

Answer 2

In Act I of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Polonius prepares his son Laertes for travel abroad with a speech directing the youth to commit a "few precepts to memory," among them the now-familiar adage "neither a borrower nor a lender be" and: "This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man ". This advice is ironic, as Polonius cares a great deal what others think of him, always attempting to create a good image through pompous and what he considers witty babbling. Laertes also is not true to himself, warning his sister Ophelia against Hamlet's behavior, when he himself drinks, swears, quarrels publicly and drabbles with loose women. Come to think of it, very few characters in Hamlet are true to themselves. Hamlet is forced by the king to flee after accidentally killing Polonius, when the king himself killed his brother only months before. Gertrude spends the play trying to convince her son (as well as herself) that she is not complicit in her husband's murder. The act Hamlet puts on in an attempt to trap his father's murderer(s) ends in Ophelia's suicide. The only two characters alive at the end of the play - Fortinbras and Horatio - are the two who actually were true to themselves. Fortinbras never hid the fact that he wanted revenge for his father's death, Hamlet actually admired this in him.

Obviously, the play's a lot more complicated than this, but, in a nutshell...hope this helped!

Answer 3

It is from Shakespears, Hamlet. It means bottom line take care of yourself first and protect what you believe in. (Looks like I screwed up a little bit on this one, sorry.)

Answer 4

hamlet. It means you can lie to everyone else but you can't lie to yourself. And its yourself that you've got to live with or end up committing suicide like other characters in the play (i.e. Ophelia)