Geoffrey Chaucer: Trending quotes (page 2)

“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.”

“Noght o word spak he more than was nede,
And that was seyd in forme and reverence,
And short and quik, and ful of hy sentence.
Souninge in moral vertu was his speche,
And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.”

“… if gold rust, what then will iron do?/ For if a priest be foul in whom we trust/ No wonder that a common man should rust….”

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

“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.”

“Ful wys is he that kan hymselven knowe!”

“the guilty think all talk is of themselves.”

“all that glitters is not gold”

“Therfore bihoveth hire a ful long spoon
That shal ete with a feend.”

“Love is a thyng as any spirit free.
Wommen, of kynde, desiren libertee,
And nat to been constreyned as a thral;
And so doon men, if I sooth seyen shal.”

“Your duty is, as ferre as I can gesse.”

“He was a verray, parfit gentil knyght.”

“That he is gentil that doth gentil dedis.”

“Forbede us thing, and that desiren we;
Preesse on us faste, and thanne wol we flee.
With daunger oute we al oure chaffare:
Greet prees at market maketh dere ware,
And too greet chepe is holden at litel pris.”

“For out of olde feldes, as men seith,
Cometh al this new corn fro yeer to yere;
And out of olde bokes, in good feith,
Cometh al this newe science that men lere.”

“Oon ere it herde, at tothir out it wente”

“Loke who that is most vertuous alway,
Prive and apert, and most entendeth ay
To do the gentil dedes that he can,
And take him for the gretest gentilman.”

“Nature, the vicar of the Almightie Lord.”

“A Clerk ther was of Oxenforde also.”