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"I'' be a candle-holder, and look on."
Proverb
Act 1,
Scene 4
Lines 35-37

A proverb about the phrase candle-holder is explained in myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4.

Romeo

For I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase.
I'll be a candle-holder and look on;
The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done.

Romeo is actually reminded of two proverbs. This line is a rephrasing of the first one, “A good candle-holder proves a good gamester,” meaning that an observer is more likely than a player to see the best move to make in a game, whether the game is cards or socializing. But Romeo has decided to be a candle-holder not in order to play the game better, but because he’s not interested in playing the game at all.