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All Site ContentHamletAct 3Scene 2
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"while the grass grows"
Allusion
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 313-320

An explanation of Hamlet’s incomplete proverb in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Rosencrantz

Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? 
You do surely bar the door of your own liberty
if you deny your griefs to your friend.

Hamlet   

Sir, I lack advancement.

Rosencrantz

How can that be, when you have the voice of the king
himself for your succession in Denmark?

Hamlet

Ay, sir, but "while the grass grows" — the proverb 
is something musty.

Hamlet refers to the proverb, “While the grass grows, the horse starves.” In other words, your dreams may come to fruition a bit too late to be useful.