Canterbury Tales Quotes

Patience is a conquering virtue.

people can die of mere imagination

If gold rusts, what then can iron do?

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

No empty handed man can lure a bird

Reading list (1972 edition)[edit] 1. Homer – Iliad, Odyssey 2. The Old Testament 3. Aeschylus – Tragedies 4. Sophocles – Tragedies 5. Herodotus – Histories 6. Euripides – Tragedies 7. Thucydides – History of the Peloponnesian War 8. Hippocrates – Medical Writings 9. Aristophanes – Comedies 10. Plato – Dialogues 11. Aristotle – Works 12. Epicurus – Letter to Herodotus; Letter to Menoecus 13. Euclid – Elements 14. Archimedes – Works 15. Apollonius of Perga – Conic Sections 16. Cicero – Works 17. Lucretius – On the Nature of Things 18. Virgil – Works 19. Horace – Works 20. Livy – History of Rome 21. Ovid – Works 22. Plutarch – Parallel Lives; Moralia 23. Tacitus – Histories; Annals; Agricola Germania 24. Nicomachus of Gerasa – Introduction to Arithmetic 25. Epictetus – Discourses; Encheiridion 26. Ptolemy – Almagest 27. Lucian – Works 28. Marcus Aurelius – Meditations 29. Galen – On the Natural Faculties 30. The New Testament 31. Plotinus – The Enneads 32. St. Augustine – On the Teacher; Confessions; City of God; On Christian Doctrine 33. The Song of Roland 34. The Nibelungenlied 35. The Saga of Burnt Njál 36. St. Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica 37. Dante Alighieri – The Divine Comedy;The New Life; On Monarchy 38. Geoffrey Chaucer – Troilus and Criseyde; The Canterbury Tales 39. Leonardo da Vinci – Notebooks 40. Niccolò Machiavelli – The Prince; Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy 41. Desiderius Erasmus – The Praise of Folly 42. Nicolaus Copernicus – On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres 43. Thomas More – Utopia 44. Martin Luther – Table Talk; Three Treatises 45. François Rabelais – Gargantua and Pantagruel 46. John Calvin – Institutes of the Christian Religion 47. Michel de Montaigne – Essays 48. William Gilbert – On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies 49. Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote 50. Edmund Spenser – Prothalamion; The Faerie Queene 51. Francis Bacon – Essays; Advancement of Learning; Novum Organum, New Atlantis 52. William Shakespeare – Poetry and Plays 53. Galileo Galilei – Starry Messenger; Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences 54. Johannes Kepler – Epitome of Copernican Astronomy; Concerning the Harmonies of the World 55. William Harvey – On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals; On the Circulation of the Blood; On the Generation of Animals 56. Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan 57. René Descartes – Rules for the Direction of the Mind; Discourse on the Method; Geometry; Meditations on First Philosophy 58. John Milton – Works 59. Molière – Comedies 60. Blaise Pascal – The Provincial Letters; Pensees; Scientific Treatises 61. Christiaan Huygens – Treatise on Light 62. Benedict de Spinoza – Ethics 63. John Locke – Letter Concerning Toleration; Of Civil Government; Essay Concerning Human Understanding;Thoughts Concerning Education 64. Jean Baptiste Racine – Tragedies 65. Isaac Newton – Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy; Optics 66. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – Discourse on Metaphysics; New Essays Concerning Human Understanding;Monadology 67. Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe 68. Jonathan Swift – A Tale of a Tub; Journal to Stella; Gulliver's Travels; A Modest Proposal 69. William Congreve – The Way of the World 70. George Berkeley – Principles of Human Knowledge 71. Alexander Pope – Essay on Criticism; Rape of the Lock; Essay on Man 72. Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu – Persian Letters; Spirit of Laws 73. Voltaire – Letters on the English; Candide; Philosophical Dictionary 74. Henry Fielding – Joseph Andrews; Tom Jones 75. Samuel Johnson – The Vanity of Human Wishes; Dictionary; Rasselas; The Lives of the Poets

Forbid Us Something and That Thing we Desire

Purity in body and heart May please some--as for me, I make no boast. For, as you know, no master of a household Has all of his utensils made of gold; Some are wood, and yet they are of use.

Love will not be constrain'd by mastery. When mast'ry comes, the god of love anon Beateth his wings, and, farewell, he is gone. Love is a thing as any spirit free.

Youth may outrun the old, but not outwit.

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.

For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust, No wonder is a common man should rust" -The Prologue of Chaucers Canterbury Tales-

Then you compared a woman's love to Hell, To barren land where water will not dwell, And you compared it to a quenchless fire, The more it burns the more is its desire To burn up everything that burnt can be. You say that just as worms destroy a tree A wife destroys her husband and contrives, As husbands know, the ruin of their lives.

Yet do not miss the moral, my good men. For Saint Paul says that all that’s written well Is written down some useful truth to tell. Then take the wheat and let the chaff lie still.

It seems to me that poverty is an eyeglass through which one may see his true friends.

And high above, depicted in a tower, Sat Conquest, robed in majesty and power, Under a sword that swung above his head, Sharp-edged and hanging by a subtle thread.

I liked reading about the nun who ate so dainty with her fingers she never dripped any grease on herself. I've never been able to make that claim and I use a fork.

earn what you can since everything's for sale

But Christ's lore and his apostles twelve, He taught and first he followed it himself.

we know little of the things for which we pray

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was expected to clock in at anywhere between 100 and 120 chapters. Unfortunately, the dude only managed to finish 24 tales before he suffered an insurmountable and permanent state of writer's block commonly known as death.

Who shall give a lover any law?’ Love is a greater law, by my troth, than any law written by mortal man.

For he would rather have, by his bedside, twenty books, bound in black or red, of Aristotle and his philosophy, than rich robes or costly fiddles or gay harps.

The man who has no wife is no cuckold.

Until we're rotten, we cannot be ripe.

Unfortunately, unless the job description included a translation of the prologue of The Canterbury Tales, I was dreadfully under-qualified.

By God," quod he, "for pleynly, at a word, Thy drasty rymyng is nat worth a toord!

Youre tale anoyeth al this compaignye. Swich talkyng is nat worth a boterflye,

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in switch licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye (So Priketh hem Nature in hir corages), Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke

High on a stag the Goddess held her seat, And there were little hounds about her feet; Below her feet there was a sickle moon, Waxing it seemed, but would be waning soon. Her statue bore a mantle of bright green, Her hand a bow with arrows cased and keen; Her eyes were lowered, gazing as she rode Down to where Pluto has his dark abode.

It is too late! Ah, nothing is too late Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate. Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles Wrote his grand Oedipus, and Simonides Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers, When each had numbered more than fourscore years, And Theophrastus, at fourscore and ten, Had but begun his Characters of Men. Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales, At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales; Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last, Completed Faust when eighty years were past, These are indeed exceptions; but they show How far the gulf-stream of our youth may flow Into the arctic regions of our lives. Where little else than life itself survives.

Then the Miller fell off his horse.

English poetic education should, really, not begin with The Canterbury Tales, not with the Odyssey, not even with Genesis, but with Song of Amergin.

He who repeats a tale after a man, Is bound to say, as nearly as he can, Each single word, if he remembers it, However rudely spoken or unfit, Or else the tale he tells will be untrue, The things invented and the phrases new.

Colin mustered a perfunctory leer, but his mind was obviously elsewhere. 'Do you know...' he began. I knew many things, but I didn't think he needed to hear the entirety of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales right at just this moment.

people have managed to marry without arithmetic

if gold rust, what shall iron do? For if a Priest, upon whom we trust, be foul, no wonder a layman may yield to lust.

Though there was nowhere one so busy as he/ He was less busy than he seemed to be.

If you are poor your very brother hates you And all your friends avoid you, sad to say.

O woman’s counsel is so often cold! A woman’s counsel brought us first to woe, Made Adam out of Paradise to go Where he had been so merry, so well at ease.

you are the cause by which I die

This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo, And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro.

doctors & druggists wash each other's hands

Be nat wrooth, my lord, though that I pleye. Ful ofte in game a sooth I have herd seye!

Shepherds too soft who let their duty sleep, Encourage wolves to tear the lambs and sleep.

Her statue, glorious in majesty, Stood naked, floating on a vasty sea, And from the navel down there were a mass Of green and glittering waves as bright as glass. In her right hand a cithern carried she And on her head, most beautiful to see, A garland of fresh roses, while above There circles round her many a flickering dove.

In general, my liege lady,’ he began, ‘Women desire to have dominion Over their husbands, and their lovers too; They want to have mastery over them. That’s what you most desire—even if my life Is forfeit. I am here; do what you like.

But for to telle yow al hir beautee, It lyth nat in my tonge, n'yn my konnyng; I dar nat undertake so heigh a thyng. Myn Englissh eek is insufficient. It moste been a rethor excellent That koude his colours longynge for that art, If he sholde hire discryven every part. I am noon swich, I moot speke as I kan.

For naturally a beast desires to flee From any enemy that he may see, Though never yet he's clapped on such his eye.

And shame it is, if that a priest take keep, To see a shitten shepherd and clean sheep:

One shouldn’t be too inquisitive in life Either about God’s secrets or one’s wife. You’ll find God’s plenty all you could desire; Of the remainder, better not enquire.

Three years went by in happiness and health; He bore himself so well in peace and war That there was no one Theseus valued more.

Well did he know the taverns in every town, and every hosteller and bar-maid, far better than he knew any leper or beggar.

So astute was he in his buying and selling, and in his borrowings, that no one knew if he was in debt.

The fields have eyes, and the woods have ears.

Well is it said that neither love nor power Admit a rival, even for an hour.

He kept his tippet stuffed with pins for curls, And pocket-knives, to give to pretty girls.

Truly she was of elegant deportment, and very pleasing and amiable in bearing. She took pains to counterfeit the manners of the court and to be dignified in behavior and to be held worthy of reverence.

Do you wonder then that this man’s behaviour used to puzzle me tremendously? He was an ordinary clergyman at that time as well as being Headmaster, and I would sit in the dim light of the school chapel and listen to him preaching about the Lamb of God and about Mercy and Forgiveness and all the rest of it and my young mind would become totally confused. I knew very well that only the night before this preacher had shown neither Forgiveness nor Mercy in flogging some small boy who had broken the rules. So what was it all about? I used to ask myself. Did they preach one thing and practise another, these men of God? And if someone had told me at the time that this flogging clergyman was one day to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, I would never have believed it. It was all this, I think, that made me begin to have doubts about religion and even about God. If this person, I kept telling myself, was one of God’s chosen salesmen on earth, then there must be something very wrong about the whole business.

High in moral virtue was his speech, and gladly would he learn and gladly teach.

Yet from the wise take this for common sense That to the poor all times are out of joint Therefore beware of reaching such a point.

Geoffrey Chaucer, the first author in the English language, devoted the longest story in The Canterbury Tales to the Asian conqueror Genghis Khan of the Mongols.

people can die of mere imagination - Geffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

Fortune has dealt us this adversity: Some malign aspect or disposition Of Saturn in some adverse position Has brought it on us; nothing's to be done: It stood thus in our stars when we were born; The long and short of it is this: Endure.

There are no footnotes or endnotes in this translation. If any explanations or clarifications are required, they are embedded in the body of the text, so as not to interrupt the flow of the words. After all, as Noel Coward once famously remarked, “Having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.

The time always flees; it will wait for no man. And through you are still in the flower of your young manhood, age creeps on steadily, as quiet as a stone, and death meanaces every age and strikes in every rank, for no one escapes. As surely as we know that we will die, so we are uncertain of the day when death shall fall on us.

Full is my heart of revelry and grace." But suddenly he fell in grievous case; For ever the latter end of joy is woe. God knows that worldly joys do swiftly go; And if a rhetorician could but write, He in some chronicle might well indite And mark it down as sovereign in degree.

And Christ’s law and His Apostles twelve he taught, but first he followed it himself.

Till we be roten, kan we not be rypen?

There in the sun; and Chanticleer so free Sang merrier than a mermaid in the sea (For Physiologus says certainly That they do sing, both well and merrily).

But of no nombre mencioun made he, Of bigamye, or of octogamye33. Why sholde men thanne speke of it vileinye34?

Upon his arm he bare a gay bracer*, *small shield And by his side a sword and a buckler, And on that other side a gay daggere, Harnessed well, and sharp as point of spear:

you will not be master of my body & my property

But we'll try anything once hot or cold; A man must be a young food, or an old

Alas the day that gave me birth! Worse than my prison is the endless earth, now I am doomed eternally to dwell, not in purgatory, but in hell

Having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.

His spirit changed house, and vanished there, Where I have not been, so cannot say where.

No one, I fancy, would discredit a story that the Archbishop of Canterbury slipped on a banana skin merely because he found that a similar comic mishap had been reported of many people, and especially of elderly gentlemen of dignity.

Just as there never died a man," quoth he, "But he had lived on earth in some degree, Just so there never lived a man," he said, "In all this world, but must be sometime dead. This world is but a thoroughfare of woe, And we are pilgrims passing to and fro;

Truly, it is said, age has great advantage over youth. In age is both wisdom and experience. Youth may outrun the old, but not outwit

Women, of their nature, crave for liberty; they will not be ordered around like servants.

A faithful servant is more diligent in keeping your goods safe than is your own wife, because she will claim a half part of your worth all her life.

He had more tow on his distaff Than Gerveis knew.

Lord bless us! I never would have believed it! said the friar, startled out of his usual cynicism. 'An honest man!

Lord bless us! I never would have believed it!' said the friar, startled out of his usual cynicism. 'An honest man!

The friar organized a hunt. But the Alchemist was long gone -- lost among the townspeople like one bad penny melting into a puddle of lead.

Тот благороден, в ком есть благородство, А родовитость без него — уродство.

Кому веселость может повредить? Коль с рожей постной едет путник бедный, Вот это плохо, это даже вредно.

that every part derives from the whole.

Lo, what said King Solomon, who can teach us so well? ‘Do not befriend an angry man, and walk not along the way with a madman, lest you repent.’ I will no further say.

Believe me, Host, I’m doing the best I can.” 10 “By God,” he said, “to put it in a word, Your awful rhyming isn’t worth a turd! To put it bluntly, sir, your rhyming is over.

And Solomon says, ‘Fortunate is the man who is in dread of all, because he who possesses a fearless heart and a strong body will presume too much, and misfortune shall befall him.

For Cato says that he who is guilty believes every one speaks only of him.

By Pluto sent at the request of Saturn. Arcita’s horse in terror danced a pattern And leapt aside and foundered as he leapt, And ere he was aware Arcite was swept Out of the saddle and pitched upon his head Onto the ground, and there he lay for dead; His breast was shattered by the saddle-bow.

Ye sey right sooth; this Monk he clappeth lowde. He spak how Fortune covered with a clowde I noot nevere what; and als of a tragedie Right now ye herde, and pardee, no remedie It is for to biwaille ne compleyne That that is doon, and als it is a peyne, As ye han seyd, to heere of hevynesse. Sire Monk, namoore of this, so God yow blesse! Youre tale anoyeth al this compaignye. Swich talkyng is nat worth a boterflye,

Further and further afield he travelled. Taking ship, he sailed to a hot and passionate country where gypsy women dressed in scarlet, and their dark skin sweated as they danced tarantellas under a tambourine moon.

The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters which compose all ages and nations. As one age falls, another rises, different to mortal sight, but to immortals only the same; for we see the same characters repeated again and again, in animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men. Nothing new occurs in identical existence; Accident ever varies, Substance can never suffer change nor decay. Of Chaucer's characters, as described in his Canterbury Tales, some of the names or titles are altered by time, but the characters themselves for ever remain unaltered; and consequently they are the physiognomies or lineaments of universal human life, beyond which Nature never steps. Names alter, things never alter.

One night the citizens of Rome revolted Against his tyrannies and mad ambition And, when he heard them mutiny, he bolted Alone and sought his friends for coalition. The more he knocked and begged them for admission The more they shut their doors and said him nay. And then he saw that of his own perdition He was sole author and he fled away. The people yelled for him and rumbled round So that their shouts were dinning in his ear: ‘Where’s Nero? Where’s the tyrant? Treacherous hound!

that first he wrought and afterward he taught. From the Gospel he took these words, and this metaphor he added likewise thereunto, that if gold rust, what shall iron do? For if a Priest, upon whom we trust, be foul, no wonder a layman may yield to lust.

Of Pride. And though it be so that no man can accurately tell the number of the twigs and the evils that come from Pride, yet will I show you a part of them, as you shall understand. There is Disobedience, Boasting, Hypocrisy, Contempt, Arrogance, Impudence, Swelling of Heart, Insolence, Elation, Impatience, Haughtiness, Presumption, Irreverence, Obstinacy, Vainglory, and many another twig that I can not declare.

When kindled was the fire, with sober face Unto Diana spoke she in that place. “O thou chaste goddess of the wildwood green, By whom all heaven and earth and sea are seen, Queen of the realm of Pluto, dark and low, Goddess of maidens, that my heart dost know For all my years, and knowest what I desire, Oh, save me from thy vengeance and thine ire That on Actaeon fell so cruelly. Chaste goddess, well indeed thou knowest that I Desire to be a virgin all my life, Nor ever wish to be man’s love or wife. I am, thou know’st, yet of thy company, A maid, who loves the hunt and venery, And to go rambling in the greenwood wild, And not to be a wife and be with child. I do not crave the company of man.

He was an easy man to mete out Penance when a good gift he expected to receive. Forsooth, to donate generously unto a poor Order is a sign that a man is well shriven. For if a man gave, the Friar dared to assert, he knew that the man was repentant. So hard is the heart of many a man that he cannot weep, though he may sorely suffer for his sins. Therefore, in the stead of weeping and praying, men must give silver to the poor Friars.

Chaucer's world in The Canterbury Tales brings together, for the first time, a diversity of characters, social levels, attitudes, and ways of life. The tales themselves make use of a similarly wide range of forms and styles, which show the diversity of cultural influences which the author had at his disposal. Literature, with Chaucer, has taken on a new role: as well as affirming a developing language, it is a mirror of its times - but a mirror which teases as it reveals, which questions while it narrates, and which opens up a range of issues and questions, instead of providing simple, easy answers.

..or that he is a talker of idle words of folly or of villainy ..also when he promises or assures to do things that he can not perform; also when that he by frivolity or folly slanders or scorns his neighbor; also when he has any wicked suspicion of thing where he knows of it no truthfulness: these things, and more without number, are sins

Amor vincit omnia: Love conquers all.

Lo, what a powerful thing is emotion! Men may die of imagination, so profoundly can a notion afflict the mind.

The greatest Scholars are not the wisest men,’ as once unto the wolf thus spoke the mare. Of all their artifice, I account not a whit.

145 We women are born to servitude and penance, Always ruled by some man’s governance.

Here is ended the Prioress’s Tale.

Explicit.

For the common proverb says thus, ‘He who judges in haste shall soon repent.

and, ‘he who despises all, displeases all,’ as the Book says.

For Solomon says, ‘He who loves peril shall be vanquished by peril.

for that which goes beyond moderation is folly and Sin.

Lo, what says Saint Augustine: “There is nothing so like the Devil’s child as he who oft chides others.” Saint Paul also says, “It behooves the servant of God not to chide.

What difference is there betwixt an idolater and an avaricious man, but that the idolater has, perhaps, one or two idols, whereas the avaricious man has many?

For the Wise Man says, “If you fight with a fool, whether the fool be angry or merry, you will never have rest.

He who is accustomed to this Sin of Gluttony may no Sin withstand. He must be in bondage to all vices, for it is in the Devil’s hoard where he hides himself and takes his rest.

Now let us turn again to January, who, in the garden with his fair May, sang full merrier than the popinjay, “I love you best, and always shall, and I will love no other one.

A great fool is any counselor, serving a Lord of high honor, who dares presume, or even think, that his counsel should surpass his Lord’s wit.

With all humility and abstinence, with all temperance and patience, with modest bearing and appearance was she. Discreet in answering was she always.

For Solomon says that, ‘The doctrine and the wit of a man is to be understood by his patience.

For Solomon says that, ‘He who is not patient shall meet with great harm.

And, therefore, Saint Jerome says, ‘Do some good deeds, so that the Devil, who is our enemy, will not find you unoccupied

As Petrus Alphonsus says, ‘If you have the ability to do a thing of which you must later repent, “Nay” is better than “Yea.

And take this for a general rule: Every counsel which is affirmed so strongly that it may not be changed for any condition that may befall, I say this counsel is wicked.

Nor have you well taken heed of the words of Ovid, who says, ‘Under the honeyed enticements of the flesh is hidden the venom that slays the soul.

For Seneca says, ‘That man who is nourished by Fortune, she makes of him a great fool.

He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon.

When Fortune flees a man is left forsaken.

By shouting crowds, gold chains about her throat, And still, as rank allowed her, diademed, And there were jewels crusted on her coat.

he who has no wife cannot a cuckold be.

people can die of mere imagination

Oon of us two moste bowen, doutelees; And sith a man is moore resonable Than womman is, ye moste been suffrable.

A man’s no cuckold if he has no wife.

Brimful of pardons come from Rome, all hot. He had the same small voice a goat has got

You go away,’ she answered, ‘you Tom-fool! There’s no come-up-and-kiss-me here for you. I love another and why shouldn’t I too?

Another whispered low to his fellow, and said, “He is mistaken, for it is rather like an illusion created by some Sorcerer, as conjurers do at those great feasts.” Of sundry doubts did they thus chatter and debate, as ignorant people are wont to do about things that are crafted more cunningly than they can comprehend in their ignorance, and they usually expect the worst.

And, therefore, I pray God both day and night that, to a wrathful man, He send but little might. It is a great harm and, for certain, a great misfortune to place an angry man in high position.

He was broad and squat, with a thick neck; he could knock any door off its hinges, and would no doubt have excelled at that game the London apprentices play, known as ‘breaking doors with our heads’.

For when your labor is all done, And you’ve done all your reckonings, You hasten home without delay, And, just as dumb as any stone, You sit and read another book Until completely dazéd is your look.

Alas, a foul thing it is, by my faith, to say this word, and fouler is the deed, when a man drinks so much of the white wine and red that, of his throat he makes a privy, because of this accursed excess.

For Solomon says, “When you have no audience, do not try to speak.” Whereupon did this wise man say, “I see well that the common proverb is true, that ‘Good counsel is most wanting when it is most needed.

Nay, Sir, not of love,” said he, “but a tale shall I relate as best I can, with hearty good will. I shall not disobey your request. Excuse me if I speak amiss. My intention is good. And, lo, my tale is this.

Aos amantes apresento esta questão: quem o mais desditoso, Arcita ou Palamon? Este avistava a amada todo dia, mas não podia abandonar o cárcere; aquele tinha toda a liberdade, mas nunca mais veria o seu amor.

The remedy against the Sin of Pride. Now since it is so that you have understood what is Pride, and which are the kinds of it, and from whence Pride arises and springs, you shall understand what is the remedy against the Sin of Pride, and that is humility, or meekness. That is a virtue through which a man has true knowledge of himself, and holds himself to be of no import or esteem, considering always his frailty.

Let me expound on Saint Cecilia’s name, As you encounter it in the course of the tale. In English it simply means “lily of heaven,” Because of her purity in work and faith, But also because of her gleaming honesty,

These folk have little regard for how the Son of God rode upon an ass when He came down from Heaven. And He had no other harness but the clothing of His disciples. Nor do we read that He ever rode upon any other beast.

And, in his noble heart, he pondered a moment and then soft unto himself he said, “Fie upon a Lord that will show no mercy, but will be as a lion, in word and in deed, both to those who are remorseful and afeared, as well as to the haughty unrepentant man, and who will judge the guilty and the innocent alike. That Lord has little of discernment, who, in such a case, knows of no distinction, but weighs arrogance and humility upon an equal scale.

But you worshipful religious Canons, do not deem that I slander your order, although my tale may be of a Canon. In every order there is some miscreant, pardon me, and God forbid that all a company should rue a single man’s folly.

Now let us touch on the vice of Flattery, which comes not gladly from the heart, but from fear or greed. Flattery is generally insincere praise. Flatterers be the Devil’s nurses, who nourish his children with the milk of adulation.

The shining beauty of her, walking this earth, So overwhelms my heart and being, that unless 255 She graces me with her lovely glance, and blesses Me with her heart, so I may walk beside her, I am as good as dead. It has been decided.

Things that have been foolishly done, in the hope of favorable Fortune, will never come to a good end.’ And, as the same Seneca says, ‘The more clear and the more shining that Fortune is, the more brittle and the sooner broken is she.

Look well that you unto no vice assent, lest you be damned for your evil intent. For she who does so is a traitor, certainly. And take heed of what I shall say: of all the treasons, the greatest wickedness is the betrayal of innocence.

Whether because of anger, sickness, the position of the stars, wine, woe, or a change in temperament, something does cause us full oft to say or do an untoward thing. A man may not wreak vengeance for every wrong. Temperance must be determined, according to the occasion, by every person of good judgment. And, therefore, did this wise, worthy Knight, in order to live in harmony, promise forbearance unto her, and she unto him truly swore that never would he find fault in her.

For the law says that, ‘He is culpable who interferes with, or meddles with, such thing as appertains not unto him.’ And Solomon says that, ‘He who meddles in the noise and strife of another man is like unto him who takes a hound by the ears.

ruled so hard, and kept them under my thumb, That they were truly happy, bringing me prizes 220 They’d won at the fair, glad to so surprise me. And they were pleased when I chose to treat them nicely, Because, God knows, my tongue was tart and spicy.

For the proverb says, ‘He who embraces too much, retains too little.’ And Cato says, ‘Assay to do only such a thing as you have the power to do, lest the burdensome charge oppress you so sorely that it behooves you to abandon the task you have begun.

Why,” said this Summoner, “ride you then in sundry shapes, and not always in the same one?” “Because we will assume whatever form,” said the Fiend, “is most suitable to catch our prey.” “And what causes you to undertake all this labor?” asked the Summoner.

Before his mistress a lover was prostrate, wounded to death by her beauty, killed by her disdain, obliged to an illimitable constancy, marked out for her dangerous service. A smile from her was in theory a gracious reward for twenty years of painful adoration.

For, as Seneca said, ‘Loss of chattels may recovered be, but time, once lost, we shall never see.’ It will not come again, without doubt, no more than will Molly’s maidenhead, when she has lost it because of her wantonness. Let us not grow mouldy thus in idleness.

And Seneca says, ‘Whosoever would have wisdom shall disdain no man, but he shall gladly teach what he knows, without presumption or pride, and of such things as he does not know, he shall not be ashamed to learn them, and shall inquire of lesser folk than himself.

Into two ranks did the armies dress themselves, and, when that their names were read aloud, so that in their numbers there would be no guile, each Knight did respond unto his name. Then were the gates shut, and then did the cry resound: “Do now your duty, young Knights proud!

Tony Williams: You’ve often mentioned that Tales of Hoffmann (1951) has been a major influence on you. George Romero: It was the first film I got completely involved with. An aunt and uncle took me to see it in downtown Manhattan when it first played. And that was an event for me since I was about eleven at the time. The imagery just blew me away completely. I wanted to go and see a Tarzan movie but my aunt and uncle said, “No! Come and see a bit of culture here.” So I thought I was missing out. But I really fell in love with the film. There used to be a television show in New York called Million Dollar Movie. They would show the same film twice a day on weekdays, three times on Saturday, and three-to-four times on Sunday. Tales of Hoffmann appeared on it one week. I missed the first couple of days because I wasn’t aware that it was on. But the moment I found it was on, I watched virtually every telecast. This was before the days of video so, naturally, I couldn’t tape it. Those were the days you had to rent 16mm prints of any film. Most cities of any size had rental services and you could rent a surprising number of films. So once I started to look at Tales of Hoffmann I realized how much stuff Michael Powell did in the camera. Powell was so innovative in his technique. But it was also transparent so I could see how he achieved certain effects such as his use of an overprint in the scene of the ballet dancer on the lily ponds. I was beginning to understand how adept a director can be. But, aside from that, the imagery was superb. Robert Helpmann is the greatest Dracula that ever was. Those eyes were compelling. I was impressed by the way Powell shot Helpmann sweeping around in his cape and craning down over the balcony in the tavern. I felt the film was so unique compared to most of the things we were seeing in American cinema such as the westerns and other dreadful stuff I used to watch. Tales of Hoffmann just took me into another world in terms of its innovative cinematic technique. So it really got me going. Tony Williams: A really beautiful print exists on laserdisc with commentary by Martin Scorsese and others. George Romero: I was invited to collaborate on the commentary by Marty. Pat Buba (Tony’s brother) knew Thelma Schoonmaker and I got to meet Powell in later years. We had a wonderful dinner with him one evening. What an amazing guy! Eventually I got to see more of his movies that I’d never seen before such as I Know Where I’m Going and A Canterbury Tale. Anyway, I couldn’t do the commentary on Tales of Hoffmann with Marty. But, back in the old days in New York, Marty and I were the only two people who would rent a 16mm copy of the film. Every time I found it was out I knew that he had it and each time he wanted it he knew who had it! So that made us buddies.

Помни днесь и присно, Что при враге не надобно болтать. Ты раб того, кто сможет передать Слова твои. Будь в жизни незаметен, Страшись всегда и новостей и сплетен. Равно – правдивы ли они иль ложны; Запомни, в этом ошибиться можно. Скуп на слова и с равными ты будь И с высшими.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Merchant’s Tale’ masterfully explores the theme of self-deception and the intricate dynamics of marital relationships. As the narrative unfolds, it illuminates the ironic nature of marriage, where love and treachery often coexist. By restoring January’s sight, Chaucer metaphorically portrays his willful ignorance, allowing him to live in blissful ignorance of his wife’s infidelity. This allegory provokes readers to question the nature of self-deception and the precarious illusions individuals construct in their pursuit of happiness within the confines of marriage. ‘The Merchant’s Tale’ serves as a cautionary tale, addressing the complexities and pitfalls of love, trust, and the frailties of human nature. Chaucer’s exploration of self-deception requires readers to critically examine the choices and illusions woven throughout the tale, shedding light on the paradoxical nature of love and marriage. Through this literary masterpiece, Chaucer prompts us to question the realities of our own lives, reminding us of the delicate balance between truth and the seductive allure of self-imposed blindness. (from an article titled "Chaucer’s ‘The Merchant’s Tale’: Unveiling the Harsh Realities of Matrimony")

No more of this,” said our Host, “for the dignity Of God. Your storytelling is making me So terribly weary of your stupidity That, really, as I hope some day to be blessed, My ears are aching from your utterly senseless 5 Blather. Send such poetry to the devil! Whatever you call it, it’s stuff of the lowest level.

You Fathers and you Mothers, let me add, However many children you have had, Yours is the duty of their supervision As long as they are bound by your decision. Beware lest the example you present Or your neglect in giving chastisement Cause them to perish; otherwise I fear, If they should do so, you will pay it dear.

What more should I say, but that the Miller would not his words forebear for any man, and told his vulgar tale in his own way. I regret that I must repeat it here and, therefore, of every refined person I pray, for the love of God, think not that I speak with evil intent, but I must relate all the stories as they are told, be they better or worse, or else be untrue to myself and my design. And, therefore, he who wishes not to read it, turn over the leaf and choose another tale. For he shall find enough, great and small, of historical matters that touch upon gentility, and also morality and holiness. Blame me not if you should choose amiss.

There is no difference, truly, Between a wife of lofty social rank Who treats her body shabbily And a poor wench, other than this: If their behavior’s equally amiss The gentle one of highly ranked estate Is still called “lady” in the terms of love And if the other is alone and poor She ends up being called a wench or whore.

This Palamon answered, “I do agree.” And, thus, did they part till the morrow, when each of them had pledged upon his faith to return. Oh, Cupid, who knows no Charity! Oh, Monarch, who reigns alone! Truly is it said that neither Love nor Lordship will willingly brook any challenge, as full well have Arcita and Palamon found.

Another Sin of Lechery is to bereave a Maiden of her maidenhead, for he who does so, certainly, casts a Maiden out of the highest degree that exists in this present life, and deprives her of that precious fruit that the Book calls the “Hundred Fruits.” I can not say it in any other way in English, but in Latin it is called Centesimus fructus.

Speak we now of wicked counsel, for he who gives wicked counsel is a traitor. He deceives the one who trusted in him, as Achitophel did unto Absalom. But, nevertheless, his wicked counsel is first against himself. For, as says the Wise Man, “Every deceitful liar has this property in himself: that he who would harm another man, he harms himself first.

This Absolon gan wype his mouth ful drye; Derk was the night as pich, or as the cole, And at the window out she putte hir hole, And Absolon, him fil no bet ne wers, But with his mouth he kiste hir naked ers Ful savourly, er he was war of this. Abak he sterte, and thoghte it was amis, For wel he wiste a womman hath no berd; He felte a thing al rough and long y-herd,

When Benjamin Bloom studied his 120 world-class concert pianists, sculptors, swimmers, tennis players, mathematicians, and research neurologists, he found something fascinating. For most of them, their first teachers were incredibly warm and accepting. Not that they set low standards. Not at all, but they created an atmosphere of trust, not judgment. It was, “I’m going to teach you,” not “I’m going to judge your talent.” As you look at what Collins and Esquith demanded of their students—all their students—it’s almost shocking. When Collins expanded her school to include young children, she required that every four-year-old who started in September be reading by Christmas. And they all were. The three- and four-year-olds used a vocabulary book titled Vocabulary for the High School Student. The seven-year-olds were reading The Wall Street Journal. For older children, a discussion of Plato’s Republic led to discussions of de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Orwell’s Animal Farm, Machiavelli, and the Chicago city council. Her reading list for the late-grade-school children included The Complete Plays of Anton Chekhov, Physics Through Experiment, and The Canterbury Tales. Oh, and always Shakespeare. Even the boys who picked their teeth with switchblades, she says, loved Shakespeare and always begged for more. Yet Collins maintained an extremely nurturing atmosphere. A very strict and disciplined one, but a loving one. Realizing that her students were coming from teachers who made a career of telling them what was wrong with them, she quickly made known her complete commitment to them as her students and as people. Esquith bemoans the lowering of standards. Recently, he tells us, his school celebrated reading scores that were twenty points below the national average. Why? Because they were a point or two higher than the year before. “Maybe it’s important to look for the good and be optimistic,” he says, “but delusion is not the answer. Those who celebrate failure will not be around to help today’s students celebrate their jobs flipping burgers.… Someone has to tell children if they are behind, and lay out a plan of attack to help them catch up.” All of his fifth graders master a reading list that includes Of Mice and Men, Native Son, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Joy Luck Club, The Diary of Anne Frank, To Kill a Mockingbird, and A Separate Peace. Every one of his sixth graders passes an algebra final that would reduce most eighth and ninth graders to tears. But again, all is achieved in an atmosphere of affection and deep personal commitment to every student. “Challenge and nurture” describes DeLay’s approach, too. One of her former students expresses it this way: “That is part of Miss DeLay’s genius—to put people in the frame of mind where they can do their best.… Very few teachers can actually get you to your ultimate potential. Miss DeLay has that gift. She challenges you at the same time that you feel you are being nurtured.

The Wife of Bath A good Wife was there from Bath. She was somewhat deaf, and that was a pity. Of cloth-making had she such a skill that she surpassed even the weavers of Ypres and of Ghent. In all the Parish there was no Wife who dared precede her to the offering at Mass; and, if perchance one did, it was certain so wrathful was she that she forgot all thoughts of charity.

The Pardoner’s Prologue Here follows the Prologue of the Pardoner’s Tale. “The love of money is the root of all evil.” 1 Timothy 6:10 “My Lords,” said the Pardoner, “in Churches, when I preach, I take pains to speak with a resounding voice and have my words ring out as loud as a bell, for I know by rote all that I expound. My text is always the same, and ever was—the love of money is the root of all evil.

In the meanwhile this Yeoman began to smile. “Brother,” said he, “do you wish me to tell you? I am a Fiend. My dwelling is in Hell. And here on Earth I ride about looking for gain, to learn where men will give me any thing. My acquisitions are the sum of all my income. Look how you ride for the same intent. To gain money, you care not how. And so do I, for I would ride to the end of the World to catch my prey.

The youngest of the three, who went to the town, turned over full oft in his mind the beauty of those gold coins, new and bright. “O Lord,” said he, “if only it were so that I might have to myself all this treasure alone, there is no man who lives under the Throne of God who would be as merry as I!” And, at last, the Devil, our enemy, put into his thoughts that he should buy poison, with which he might slay his fellows two.

Here may men see how Sin will reap his reward. Beware, for no man knows whom God will smite, nor when, nor in which manner. The worm of conscience will burrow deep within and terrify the wicked soul, though his evil be so secret that no man knows thereof but God and he. For, be he ignorant or learned, he knows not when Death will overtake him. Therefore, I advise you this counsel to take: forsake Sin, or Sin will leave you forsaken.

Now that I have told you by whom you should be counseled, now will I teach you which counsel you ought to eschew. First, you must avoid the counseling of fools. For Solomon says, ‘Take no counsel from a fool, because he can offer no advice but that which follows from his own desires and his own interests.’ The Book says that, ‘The condition of a fool is this: he easily believes evil of every person, and easily believes all goodness is in himself.

The Book says, ‘Whilst that you keep your counsel in your heart, you keep it in your prison, and, when you disclose your counsel unto any person, he holds you in his prison.’ And, therefore, it is better to hide your counsel in your heart, than entreat him to whom you have revealed your secret to keep it close and still. For Seneca says, ‘If it be so that you can not keep your own counsel, how can you then ask any person to keep your counsel hidden?

You want. You’re talking nonsense, cousin; you plainly Said you did not know if this was goddess Or woman. Your tongue confuses a man confessing Holy feelings or a man in love with a living 295 Human. My love is real, and you were given That knowledge because of oaths we certainly swore. For argument’s sake, suppose you loved her before I did. What would the ancient men of law Tell you? ‘Who shall bind a lover by law?’ 300 I say that love is truly the greatest law

To these words answered Melibee unto his wife Prudence, “All your words are true, and therefore profitable. But, truly, mine heart is troubled with this sorrow so grievously that I know not what to do.” “Summon all your true friends,” said Prudence, “and your kinsmen who are wise. Tell them your case and hearken unto what they say in counseling, and govern yourself according to their advice. Solomon says, ‘Do nothing without counsel, and you shall never repent of it.

Now, my friends, keep you from the white and from the red, and especially from the white wine of Spain that is for sale in the streets of London. This wine of Spain creeps subtly into other wines, which are grown nearby, from which there rise such fumes to the head that, when a man has drunk three draughts and thinks he is at home in London, he is in Spain, right at the town of Lepe—not in La Rochelle, nor at Bordeaux town—and then will he drunkenly say, “Samson, Samson!

Lo, lo,” said Lady Prudence, “how easily is every man inclined to his own desire and to his own pleasure. Surely, the words of the Physicians should not be understood in this way. For certain, wickedness is not the contrary of wickedness, nor vengeance the contrary of vengeance, nor wrong the contrary of wrong, for, in fact, they are the same. And, therefore, one vengeance is not cured by another vengeance, nor one wrong by another wrong, but each one of them increases and aggravates the other.

What do I care if folk speak reproachfully of the accursed Lamech and his bigamy? I know well that Abraham was a holy man, and Jacob likewise, as I believe. And each of them had wives more than two, and many another holy man besides. Where can you see, in any manner, that almighty God forbade marriage by explicit word? I pray you, tell me. Or where commanded He virginity? I know as well as you, without doubt, that the Apostle Paul, when he spoke of maidenhood, he said of that precept he had no opinion.

Against this horrible Sin of Sloth, and the branches of the same, there is a virtue called fortitude or strength. This is a love by which a man despises noxious things. This virtue is so mighty and so vigorous that it dares to withstand and wisely keep itself from perils that are wicked, and to wrestle successfully against the assaults of the Devil. For this virtue enhances and strengthens the soul, just as Sloth lessens it and makes it grow feeble. This fortitude will endure, by patient stoicism, the travails that may befall.

He who asks counsel of himself must certainly be without wrath, for many reasons. The first is this: he who has great ire and wrath in himself always believes that he may do a thing that he must not do. And, secondly, he who is angry and wrathful may not be capable of sound judgment, and he who is not capable of sound judgment can not offer wise counsel. And the third is this, that he who is angry and wrathful, as Seneca says, does not speak but reproachful words, and with his vicious words stirs other folk to anger and to ire.

Certainly also, whosoever prides himself on the gifts of Fortune is a great fool. For, sometimes, a man who is a great Lord in the morrow is a captive and a wretch ere it be night. And, sometimes, the riches of a man is the cause of his Death. And, sometimes, the pleasures of a man are the cause of the grievous malady of which he dies. And, truly, the approval of the people is too fickle and too uncertain to be trusted. Today they praise, tomorrow they blame. And, God knows, the desire to gain the approval of the people has caused the Death of many an unfortunate man.

Then comes idleness, which is indeed the gateway to all evils. The idle man is like unto a house which has no walls. The Devil may enter from every side and shoot at him, and tempt him from every side, for he is exposed. This idleness is the cesspool of all wicked and villainous thoughts, and the receptacle of all jabbering, backstabbing and excrement. For certain, Heaven is given to those who will labor, and not to idle folk. Also, David says, “They who do not do the labor of men shall be whipped for it.” That is to say, in Purgatory. Surely, it seems they shall be tormented by the Devil in Hell, unless they do Penitence.

She said and then she added under breath To Nicholas, ‘Hush … we shall laugh to death!’ This Absalon went down upon his knees; ‘I am a lord!’ he thought, ‘And by degrees There may be more to come; the plot may thicken.’ ‘Mercy, my love!’ he said, ‘Your mouth, my chicken!’ She flung the window open then in haste And said, ‘Have done, come on, no time to waste, The neighbours here are always on the spy.’ Absalon started wiping his mouth dry. Dark was the night as pitch, as black as coal, And at the window out she put her hole, And Absalon, so fortune framed the farce, Put up his mouth and kissed her naked arse Most savorously before he knew of this.

Words, inscribed on stone, hard ádamánt, Your permanent decrees, your potent grants, What do you care about men, how can we hold Your eyes much more than frightened sheep in the fold? 445 For men are slain just like the other beasts, Locked in prison cages, whipped and beaten And given sickness and sore adversity, And often for no good reason, no guilt, no evil. “You govern by making the future happen. What sense 450 Can there be, when you can punish the innocent And never suffer? I should not complain, but offer Homage: God’s law requires us to proffer Renunciation of all our wills and desires, While beasts may enjoy whatever they please and like.

For certain, the goods of Nature are either the goods of the body or the goods of the soul. Truly, the goods of the body are health, strength, agility, beauty, noble birth, and autonomy. The goods of the soul are intelligence, deep understanding, subtle ingenuity, natural virtue, and good memory. The goods of Fortune are riches, high degree of Lordship, and the acclaim of the people. The goods of Grace are wisdom, the capacity to suffer spiritual travail, generosity, virtuous contemplation, the ability to withstand temptation, and other similar things. And, of all these aforesaid goods, it is certainly a great folly for a man to be prideful of any of them.

Each season the people of Canterbury re-enact Becket’s death: it is the monkish version, because till now no other kind of history has been available. Crowds line the streets—excited, as if the tale might come out different this year. Hot pasties are sold. There are processions with drummers and pipes, and then the show begins. The knights get tuppence and some beer, but the lad who plays the saint gets a shilling, for the knights make him suffer, smashing him on the flags as the old archbishop was smashed. As Becket calls on Christ, a child crouching behind the altar squirts the scene with pig’s blood. The actor is carried away. Then everybody gets drunk.

Four burning embers have we, which I shall describe—boasting, lying, anger and covetousness. These four sparks linger well into old age. Our ancient limbs may be feeble, but yearning does not fail, and that is the truth. As yet I have still the desires of a youth, even though many a year has passed since first my Tap of Life began to flow. For, surely, when that I was born, did Death turn on the Tap of Life and let it run, and, ever since that day, has the Tap flowed, till almost empty is the cask. The stream of life has now but a few drops remaining. The foolish tongue may well ring out and chime of wickedness that passed long ago, but, for old folk, there is nothing save dotage.

For, by this Sin, God loses the Church and the souls that He bought with His precious blood, when Churches are given to those who are not worthy. Into these Churches are put thieves who steal souls from Jesus Christ and destroy His patrimony. By reason of such unworthy Priests and Curates do ignorant men lose all reverence for the sacraments of Holy Church, and such usurpers of Churches put out of the Church the children of Christ and put into the Church the Devil’s own sons. They sell the souls of the lambs they are sworn to save to the wolf that will slay them. And, therefore, these disreputable Priests should never have any part of the pasture of lambs, which is the bliss of Heaven.

I will do all my diligence, as far as it accords with propriety, to tell you a tale, or two, or three. And if you please to hearken, come hither, and I will tell you of the life of Saint Edward the Confessor. Or else, first, of tragedies will I relate, of which I have a hundred books in my Chamber. Tragedy is to say a certain kind of story, as ancient texts would have us remember, of those who stood in great prosperity, and are fallen out of high degree into misery, and end wretchedly. And they are commonly versified in six metrical feet, which men call hexameter. In prose also are inscribed many a one, and likewise in metre in many a sundry way. Lo, this elucidation ought to suffice enough.

When Melibee had heard that the greatest part of his council were accorded that he should make war, anon did he consent to their counseling and fully affirmed their decision. Then Lady Prudence, when she saw that her husband had decided to wreak vengeance upon his foes, and to begin war, she in a most humble way, when she saw her time, said to him these words, “My Lord, I do beseech you, as heartily as I can and dare, that you do not hasten too fast and, for your own good, give me an audience. For, as Petrus Alphonsus says, ‘Whosoever does unto you either harm or good, do not hasten to requite it, for in this way your friend will abide and your enemy shall the longer live in dread.’ The proverbs say, ‘He hastens well who wisely can wait,’ and ‘In unseemly haste there is no profit.

Oh cruel god's that govern this world, binding it with your cruel eternal decrees inscribed on sheets of adamantine steel, what is humankind to you? Do men mean more to you than sheep that cower in the fold? Men must die, too, like any beast in the field. Men also dwell in confinement and restraint. Men suffer great sickness and adversity, even when they are guilty of no sin. What glory can there be for you in treating humankind so ungenerously? What is the good of your foreknowledge, if it only torments the innocent and punishes the just? What is the purpose of your providence? One other matter, too, outrages me. Men must perform their duty and, for the sake of the gods, refrain from indulging their desires. They must uphold certain principles, for the salvation of their souls, whereas the silly sheep goes into the darkness of non-being. No beast suffers pain in the hereafter. But after death we all may still weep and wail, even though our life on earth was also one of suffering. Is this just? Is this commendable? I suppose I must leave the answer to theologians, but I know this for a fact. The world is full of grief.