Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes

Patience is a conquering virtue.

The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.

What is better than wisdom? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing.

people can die of mere imagination

If gold rusts, what then can iron do?

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

the greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people

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

Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Expierience treacherous. Judgement difficult.

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.

Time and Tide wait for no man

How potent is the fancy! People are so impressionable, they can die of imagination.

The life so brief, the art so long in the learning, the attempt so hard, the conquest so sharp, the fearful joy that ever slips away so quickly - by all this I mean love, which so sorely astounds my feeling with its wondrous operation, that when I think upon it I scarce know whether I wake or sleep.

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.

Amor vincit omnia

the guilty think all talk is of themselves.

Youth may outrun the old, but not outwit.

By God, if women had written stories, As clerks had within here oratories, They would have written of men more wickedness Than all the mark of Adam may redress.

Ful wys is he that kan himselve knowe.

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.

You are the cause by which I die.

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.

And once he had got really drunk on wine, Then he would speak no language but Latin.

One flesh they are; and one flesh, so I'd guess, Has but one heart, come grief or happiness.

earn what you can since everything's for sale

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

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

For hym was levere have at his beddes heed Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophie, Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie.

Thus in this heaven he took his delight And smothered her with kisses upon kisses Till gradually he came to know where bliss is.

If no love is, O God, what fele I so? And if love is, what thing and which is he? If love be good, from whennes cometh my woo? If it be wikke, a wonder thynketh me

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.

It has an unhappy effect upon the human understanding and temper, for a man to be compelled in his gravest investigation of an argument, to consider, not what is true, but what is convenient.

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,

I'll die for stifled love, by all that's true.

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

Ye knowe eek, that in forme of speche is chaunge With-inne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge Us thinketh hem; and yet they spake hem so, And spedde as wel in love as men now do.

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.

Then the Miller fell off his horse.

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.

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.

people have managed to marry without arithmetic

When that Aprille with his shoures sote. The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertue engendred is the flour.

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.

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

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

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

La moraleja de todas las tragedias es la misma: que la Fortuna siempre ataca a los reinos prepotentes cuando menos lo esperan.

doctors & druggists wash each other's hands

And if love is, what thing and which is he? If love be good, from whennes cometh my woo?

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

the harm that’s in the world now as often comes through folly as through malice.

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

Lust is addicted to novelty.

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.

I know that my singing doesn’t make the moon rise, nor does it make the stars shine. But without my song, the night would seem empty and incomplete. There is more to daybreak than light, just as there is more to nighttime than darkness.

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.

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

You fare by love as owls do by light.

We’re like two dogs in battle on their own; They fought all day but neither got the bone, There came a kite above them, nothing loth, And while they fought he took it from them both." From Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale

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.

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

Lo, which a greet thing is affeccioun! Men may die of imaginacioun, So depe may impressioun be take.

la virtud que corona la perfección es la paciencia".

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

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

And after winter folweth grene May.

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.

The fields have eyes, and the woods have ears.

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.

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.

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.

When April with its sweet showers has pierced the drought of March to the root, and bathed every vein of earth with that liquid by whose power the flowers are engendered; when the zephyr, too, with its dulcet breath, has breathed life into the tender new shoots in every copse and on every hearth, and the young sun has run half his course in the sign of the Ram, and the little birds that sleep all night with their eyes open give song (so Nature prompts them in their hearts), then, as the poet Geoffrey Chaucer observed many years ago, folk long to go on pilgrimages. Only, these days, professional people call them conferences. The modern conference resembles the pilgrimage of medieval Christendom in that it allows the participants to indulge themselves in all the pleasures and diversions of travel while appearing to be austerely bent on self-improvement. To be sure, there are certain penitential exercises to be performed - the presentation of a paper, perhaps, and certainly listening to papers of others.

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.

Men may the wise atrenne, and naught atrede.

For thus men seyth, "That on thenketh the beere, But al another thenketh his ledere.

Go, litel bok, go, litel myn tragedye,

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?

For sondry scoles maken sotile clerkis; Womman of manye scoles half a clerk is.

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:

Jesús de Sirach afirma: «Quien tiene el corazón alegre y contento se conserva vigoroso a través de los años, pero un corazón entristecido reseca los huesos».

nadie debe echar sobre sus espaldas fardo que no pueda llevar.

El hombre favorecido por la Fortuna se convierte en un imbécil integral.

«El león está siempre al acecho para matar al inocente si puede.»

you will not be master of my body & my property

It is ful fair a man to bere him evene,/For alday meeteth men at unset stevene.

¿De qué sirve tener posesiones si un hombre carece de conocimientos?

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.

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.

This Nicholas anon leet fle a fart As greet as it had been a thonder-dent, That with the strook he was almoost yblent; And he was redy with his iren hoot, And Nicholas amydde the ers he smoot. Of gooth the skyn an hande-brede aboute, The hoote kultour brende so his toute, And for the smert he wende for to dye.

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

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.

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

Lo que comenzó mal, rara vez y con muchísima dificultad concluirá bien".

have you killed me, false thief?

This you may see that neither wisdom nor riches, beauty nor trickery, strength nor boldness may share power equally with Venus, for as she wishes she may guide the world.

Ne nevere mo ne lakked hire pite; Tendre-herted, slydynge of corage; But trewely, I kan nat telle hire age.

He had more tow on his distaff Than Gerveis knew.

A priest should take to heart the shameful scene of shepards filthy while the sheep are clean.

Lost money is not lost beyond recall, But loss of time brings on the loss of all.

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

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

The very eyeballs in your skull look dead.

Go litel bok, go, litel myn tragedye, Ther God thi makere yet, er that he dye, So sende myght to make in som comedye! But litel book, no makyng thow n'envie, But subgit be to alle poesye; And kis the steppes where as thow seest pace Virgile, Ovide, Omer, Lucan, and Stace.

Know thyself first immortal and loke ay besyly thow werche and wysse To commune profit, and thow shatl not mysse To comen swiftly to that place deere That ful of blysse is and of soules cleere

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.

Throgh me men gon into that blysful place Of hertes hele and dedly woundes cure; Thorgh me men gon unto the welle of grace, There grene and lusty May shal evere endure. This is the wey to al good aventure. Be glad, thow redere, and thy sorwe of-caste; Al open am I - passe in, and sped thee faste!' 'Thorgh me men gon,' than spak that other side, 'Unto the mortal strokes of the spere Of which Disdayn and Daunger is the gyde, There nevere tre shal fruyt ne leves bere. This strem yow ledeth to the sorweful were There as the fish in prisoun is al drye; The'eschewing is only the remedye!

The fiery heat of love by now had cooled, For from the time he kissed her hinder parts He didn't give a tinker's curse for tarts; His malady was cured by this endeavor And he defied all paramours whatever.

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,

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 hath considered shortly, in a clause The trespas of hem bothe, and eek the cause, And althogh that his ire hir gilt accused, Yet in his resoun he hem bothe excused, As thus: he thoghte wel that every man Wol helpe himself in love if that he kan, And eek delivere himself out of prisoun;

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.

Mr. Morris's poem is ushered into the world with a very florid birthday speech from the pen of the author of the too famous Poems and Ballads,—a circumstance, we apprehend, in no small degree prejudicial to its success. But we hasten to assure all persons whom the knowledge of Mr. Swinburne's enthusiasm may have led to mistrust the character of the work, that it has to our perception nothing in common with this gentleman's own productions, and that his article proves very little more than that his sympathies are wiser than his performance. If Mr. Morris's poem may be said to remind us of the manner of any other writer, it is simply of that of Chaucer; and to resemble Chaucer is a great safeguard against resembling Swinburne.

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")

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!

Yow loveres axe I now this questioun, Who hath the worse, Arcite or Palamoun?   490 That oon may seen his lady day by day, But in prison he moot dwelle alway. That other wher him list may ryde or go, But seen his lady shal he never-mo. Now demeth as yow liste, ye that can,   495 For I wol telle forth as I bigan. Explicit prima Pars.    Sequitur pars secunda.

that every part derives from the whole.

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.

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.

Here is ended the Prioress’s Tale.

Explicit.

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.

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.

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

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?

Out of the gosple he tho wordes caughte, And this figure he added eek therto, That if gold ruste, what shal iren do? For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste, No wonder is a lewed man to ruste; And shame it is, if a prest take keep, A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep. Wel oghte a preest ensample for to yive, By his clennesse, how that his sheep sholde lyve.

We’re like two dogs in battle on their own; They fought all day but neither got the bone, There came a kite above them, nothing loth, And while they fought he took it from them both.

Chese now," quod she, "oon of thise thynges tweye: To han me foul and old til that I deye, And be to yow a trewe, humble wyf, And nevere yow displese in al my lyf, Or elles ye wol han me yong and fair, And take youre aventure of the repair That shal be to youre hous by cause of me, Or in som oother place, may wel be. Now chese yourselven, wheither that yow liketh.

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 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.

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.

If evere I do unto my kin that shame, or elles I empeyre so my name that I be fals, and if I do that lak, do strepe me and put me in a sak, and in the nexte river do me drenche. I am a gentil womman and no wenche.

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,

And as for me, though that I konne but lyte, On bokes for to rede I me delyte, And to hem yive I feyth and ful credence, And in myn herte have hem in reverence So hertely, that ther is game noon That fro my bokes maketh me to goon, But yt be seldom on the holyday, Save, certeynly, whan that the month of May Is comen, and that I here the foules synge, And that the floures gynnen for to sprynge, Farewel my bok and my devocioun!

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.

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.

For as I may be saved by God above, I never used discretion when in love But ever followed on my appetite, Whether the lad was short, long, black or white. Little I cared, if he was fond of me, How poor he was, or what his rank might be.

A knowing wife if she is worth her salt Can always prove her husband is at fault, And even though the fellow may have heard Some story told him by a little bird She knows enough to prove the bird is crazy And get her maid to witness she’s a daisy,

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Deacon met my glare with an impish grin. “Anyway, did you celebrate Valentine’s Day when you were slumming with the mortals?” I blinked. “Not really. Why?” Aiden snorted and then disappeared into one of the rooms. “Follow me,” Deacon said. “You’re going to love this. I just know it.” I followed him down the dimly-lit corridor that was sparsely decorated. We passed several closed doors and a spiral staircase. Deacon went through an archway and stopped, reaching along the wall. Light flooded the room. It was a typical sunroom, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, wicker furniture, and colorful plants. Deacon stopped by a small potted plant sitting on a ceramic coffee table. It looked like a miniature pine tree that was missing several limbs. Half the needles were scattered in and around the pot. One red Christmas bulb hung from the very top branch, causing the tree to tilt to the right. “What do you think?” Deacon asked. “Um… well, that’s a really different Christmas tree, but I’m not sure what that has to do with Valentine’s Day.” “It’s sad,” Aiden said, strolling into the room. “It’s actually embarrassing to look at. What kind of tree is it, Deacon?” He beamed. “It’s called a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.” Aiden rolled his eyes. “Deacon digs this thing out every year. The pine isn’t even real. And he leaves it up from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day. Which thank the gods is the day after tomorrow. That means he’ll be taking it down.” I ran my fingers over the plastic needles. “I’ve seen the cartoon.” Deacon sprayed something from an aerosol can. “It’s my MHT tree.” “MHT tree?” I questioned. “Mortal Holiday Tree,” Deacon explained, and smiled. “It covers the three major holidays. During Thanksgiving it gets a brown bulb, a green one for Christmas, and a red one for Valentine’s Day.” “What about New Year’s Eve?” He lowered his chin. “Now, is that really a holiday?” “The mortals think so.” I folded my arms. “But they’re wrong. The New Year is during the summer solstice,” Deacon said. “Their math is completely off, like most of their customs. For example, did you know that Valentine’s Day wasn’t actually about love until Geoffrey Chaucer did his whole courtly love thing in the High Middle Ages?” “You guys are so weird.” I grinned at the brothers. “That we are,” Aiden replied. “Come on, I’ll show you your room.” “Hey Alex,” Deacon called. “We’re making cookies tomorrow, since it’s Valentine’s Eve.” Making cookies on Valentine’s Eve? I didn’t even know if there was such a thing as Valentine’s Eve. I laughed as I followed Aiden out of the room. “You two really are opposites.” “I’m cooler!” Deacon yelled from his Mortal Holiday Tree room

..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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.