Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes

175 Sourced Quotes

And whan that he wel dronken hadde the wyn, Than wolde he speke no word but Latyn.

Geoffrey Chaucer
What is this world? what asketh men to have?
Now with his love, now in his colde grave
Allone, withouten any compaignye.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Or as an ook comth of a litel spir,
So thorugh this lettre, which that she hym sente,
Encressen gan desir, of which he brente.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Soun ys noght but eyr ybroken,
And every speche that ys spoken,
Lowd or pryvee, foul or fair,
In his substaunce ys but air.

Geoffrey Chaucer
The proverbe saith that many a smale maketh a grate.

Geoffrey Chaucer
But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught; but first he folwed it himselve.

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

Geoffrey Chaucer
Greet prees at market maketh deere ware,
And to greet cheep is holde at litel prys.

Geoffrey Chaucer
O yonge fresshe folkes, he or she,
In which that love up-groweth with your age,
Repeyreth hoom fro worldly vanitee,
And of your herte up-casteth the visage
To thilke God that after his image
Yow made, and thynketh al nis but a faire
This world, that passeth sone as floures faire.

Geoffrey Chaucer
And what is bettre than wisedoom? Womman. And
what is bettre than a good womman? Nothyng.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love.

Geoffrey Chaucer
For evere it was, and evere it shal byfalle,
That Love is he that alle thing may bynde,
For may no man fordon the lawe of kynde.

Geoffrey Chaucer
A Somonour was ther with us in that place,
That hadde a fyr-reed cherubynnes face,
For saucefleem he was, with eyen narwe.
As hoot he was and lecherous as a sparwe.

Geoffrey Chaucer
It is no childes pley To take a wyf withouten avysement.

Geoffrey Chaucer
But manly set the world on sixe and sevene; And, if thou deye a martir, go to hevene.

Geoffrey Chaucer
The seven bodies I'll describe anon: Sol, gold is, Luna's silver, as we see, Mars iron, and quicksilver's Mercury, Saturn is lead, and Jupiter is tin, And Venus copper, by my father's kin!

Geoffrey Chaucer
Patience is a conquering virtue. The learned say that, if it not desert you, It vanquishes what force can never reach; Why answer back at every angry speech? No, learn forbearance or, I'll tell you what, You will be taught it, whether you will or not.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Lat take a cat, and fostre him wel with milk, And tendre flesh, and make his couche of silk, And let him seen a mous go by the wal; Anon he weyveth milk, and flesh, and al, And every deyntee that is in that hous, Swich appetyt hath he to ete a mous.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Til that the brighte sonne loste his hewe; For th'orisonte hath reft the sonne his lyght; This is as muche to seye as it was nyght!

Geoffrey Chaucer
For God's love, take things patiently, have sense, Think! We are prisoners and shall always be. Fortune has given us this adversity, Some wicked planetary dispensation, Some Saturn's trick or evil constellation Has given us this, and Heaven, though we had sworn The contrary, so stood when we were born. We must endure it, that's the long and short.

Geoffrey Chaucer
And as for me, thogh that I can but lyte, On bakes for to rede I me delyte, And to hem yeve 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 hit be seldom, on the holyday; Save, certeynly, when that the month of May Is comen, and that I here the foules singe, And that the floures ginnen for to springe, Farwel my book and my devocion.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Alas, alas, that ever love was sin! I ever followed natural inclination Under the power of my constellation And was unable to deny, in truth, My chamber of Venus to a likely youth.

Geoffrey Chaucer
A whetstone is no carving instrument, And yet it maketh sharp the carving tool; And if you see my efforts wrongly spent, Eschew that course and learn out of my school; For thus the wise may profit by the fool, And edge his wit, and grow more keen and wary, For wisdom shines opposed to its contrary.

Geoffrey Chaucer
A yokel mind loves stories from of old, Being the kind it can repeat and hold.

Geoffrey Chaucer
He who accepts his poverty unhurt I'd say is rich although he lacked a shirt. But truly poor are they who whine and fret and covet what they cannot hope to get.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Full many a maiden, bright in bower Did long for him for paramour When they were best asleep; But chaste he was, no lecher sure, And sweet as is the bramble-flower That beareth a rich red hepe.

Geoffrey Chaucer
In April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all The veins are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flower.

Geoffrey Chaucer
And so it is in politics, dear brother, Each for himself alone, there is no other.

Geoffrey Chaucer
See yonder, lo, the Galaxye Which men clepeth the Milky Wey, For hit is whyt.

Geoffrey Chaucer
Remember in the forms of speech comes change Within a thousand years, and words that then Were well esteemed, seem foolish now and strange; And yet they spake them so, time and again, And thrived in love as well as any men; And so to win their loves in sundry days, In sundry lands there are as many ways.

Geoffrey Chaucer