“The mind shall banquet, though the body pine:
Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits
Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.” (Love’s Labours Lost act 1, sc.1)
Tips for Use. When you are offered a second helping, try ‘No thank you, dainty bits make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.’
In the play. Loganville subscribes to a program of learning, dieting and abstinence that will actually never be followed.
Related Food for Thought. Loganville’s program, notably the cultivation of the mind, (in Love’s Labours Lost), was perhaps too ambitious. George W. Bush should have consulted the works of Shakespeare (prominently displayed in the White House) before launching his expensive and remarkably unsuccessful “abstinence” program.
At the opposite extreme, for the Latin poet Ovid, cultivation of the mind should be the accompanying goal of the seducer (!) Says Ovid, “And white hair will come to find you, lovely lad, soon wrinkles will come, furrowing your skin. Then nourish your mind, which lasts, and adds to beauty: it alone will stay till the funeral pyre (meaning it will last until death).
And he adds, “Cultivate your thoughts with the noble arts, more than a little, and learn two languages (note: Latin and Greek at the time of course – today you may consider French). Ulysses wasn’t handsome, but he was eloquent, and still fired with passion two sea-goddesses with love.” ’(Art of Love book 2).
On the subject of languages as accessories to seduction you may also consider learning German, but not for singing. Said Frederick, King of Prussia (1712-1786), “A German singer! I should as soon expect to get pleasure from the neighing of a horse.” In those times, to be fair, operas were as popular as country music is today and only Italians were thought to be able to sing well. But times change….
All the above information and more you will find in “Your Daily Shakespeare”.
“What custom wills, in all things should we do’t,
All the World’s a Stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His act being seven ages (As You Like It, act 2, sc. 7)
Tips for Use. A wry comment whenever you feel that there is something fake about the situation you find yourself in. It is sufficient to say “All the world is a stage.” The lines are so well known that your audience will understand your meaning – that is, that there is more show than truth in what you are seeing, reading or listening to.
In the Play. In the forest of Arden the skeptical Jacques philosophizes on the meaning of life. The seven ages are: infancy, school age, age of love, of the soldier, of the judge, transition to old age, final stage
Image obtained from http://www.motifake.com/76356