Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever;
[One foot in sea and one on shore;
To one thing constant never.]1
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no more,
Of dumps so dull and heavy;
[The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leavy.]2
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Fisher: "To one thing constant never,/ One foot in sea and one on shore."
² Fischer: "Since summer first was leavy,/ The fraud of men was ever so."

Text Authorship:

• by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pauline Kroger) , "De samenzwering", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
• FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot)
• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Carlo Rusconi) , first published 1859
• POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Śpiew Baltazara", first published 1907

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 99

Ihr Mädchen, klagt nicht Ach und Weh,
Kein Mann bewahrt die Treue!
Am Ufer halb, halb schon zur See,
Verlockt sie stets das Neue!
Weint keine Trän' und lasst sie gehn!
Seid froh und guter Dinge!
Dass statt der Klag und dem Gestöhn
Juchheissassa erklinge!

Singt nicht Balladen trüb und bleich,
In Trauermelodien:
Der Männer Trug war immer gleich
Seitdem die Schwalben ziehen!
Weint keine Trän' und lasst sie gehn!
Seid froh und guter Dinge!
Dass statt der Klag und dem Gestöhn
Juchheissassa, Juchheissassa erklinge!