These words are from Hamlet, where they are spoken by Polonius.
Polonius is the King's chief counsellor, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, he was described by the critic William Hazlitt (1777–1830) as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy–body ... officious, garrulous, and impertinent." In Act II, Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "tedious old fool" and taunts him as a latter day "Jeptha".
(Jeptha is a Biblical character: one of the judges of Israel who, as thanksgiving for leading the Israelites to victory in a battle with the Ammonites, rashly vowed to sacrifice whatever would come out of the door of his house first. He immediately lived to regret the vow, as the next thing to come out of the house was his daughter. Because of the ambiguity of the text, it is not clear whether or not the vow was carried out.)
Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet, who unknowingly kills Polonius, provoking Ophelia's fit of madness. This ultimately results in her early death, and the climax of the play: a duel between Laertes and Hamlet.
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