There is a tide in the affairs of men
were
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
and that it came from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
I was amused to find that our first English Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, Rudyard Kipling, had borrowed it for the beginning of 'Kidnapped' in 1888.
The start of 'Kidnapped' reads -
"There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken any way you please, is bad
And strands them in forsaken guts and creeks
No decent soul would think of visiting.
You may arrest some rash adventurer,
Who - h'm - will hardly thank you for your pains."
Anyone want to suggest a third version?
Not me - wouldn't dare to put myself on the same level with Shakespeare and Kipling!
ReplyDeleteAs you know I don't write I just ramble.
ReplyDeleteI thought I rambled....this is rambling par excellence.
My version:
Go with the flow, Bro.
Or suffer the consequences.
For a non-writer that's a great one, Adrian!
ReplyDelete"When the tide of life
ReplyDeleteflows against you, and the currrent upsets your boat,
don't think of things that
might have been...
Just lie on on your back
and float!"
I would like to say that I made that up, but I memorized it from an old Honeymooners sketch, with Ed saying this, he worked in the sewers!
Nice one Kay, thank you!
ReplyDelete