Neither a borrower nor a lender be

Posted by R. Berg on September 30, 2001

In Reply to: Help ! posted by J. J. O'Malley on September 29, 2001

: Can anyone help me find the complete saying: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be"
: Thank's in anticipation

Those words form a complete line in Polonius's speech to Laertes, "Hamlet," Act I, Scene 3. Polonius is known as a blowhard who gives a lot of unsolicited advice. The speech is 27 lines long. This is the latter part of it:

Neither a borrower not a lender be:
For a loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all,--to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!