1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. John Gower

John Gower Quotes

John Gower was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the Mirour de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes. Wikipedia  

✵ 1330 – 1408
John Gower photo

Works

Confessio Amantis
John Gower: 12 quotes0 likes

Famous John Gower Quotes

“So goth the world, now wo, now wel”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Bk. 8, line 1738.
Confessio Amantis

“For loves lawe is out of reule.”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Bk. 1, line 18.
Confessio Amantis

“For whan men wene best to have achieved,
Ful ofte it is al newe to beginne:
The werre hath no thing siker, thogh he winne.”

John Gower

"In Praise of Peace", line 117.

“What is a lond wher men ben none?
What ben the men whiche are alone
Withoute a kinges governance?
What is a king in his ligance,
Wher that ther is no lawe in londe?
What is to take lawe on honde,
Bot if the jugges weren trewe?”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Bk. 7, line 2695.
Confessio Amantis

“Nevere yit
Was non, which half so loste his wit
Of drinke, as thei of such thing do
Which cleped is the jolif wo.”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Bk. 6, line 31.
Confessio Amantis

John Gower Quotes

“O fol of alle foles,
Thou farst as he betwen tuo stoles
That wolde sitte and goth to grounde.”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Bk. 4, line 625.
Confessio Amantis

“But in proverbe I have herde say,
That who that wel his werk beginneth,
The rather a good end he winneth.”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Prologue (First recension), line 86.
Confessio Amantis

“The beauté faye upon her face
Non erthly thing it may desface.”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Bk. 4, line 1321.
Confessio Amantis

“Bot for men sein, and soth it is,
That who that al of wisdom writ
It dulleth ofte a mannes wit
To him that schal it aldai rede,
For thilke cause, if that ye rede,
I wolde go the middel weie
And wryte a bok betwen the tweie,
Somwhat of lust, somewhat of lore.”

John Gower Confessio Amantis

Prologue, line 12.
Confessio Amantis

“In the content of his work it is interesting to notice that he is profoundly English. His romanticism, and his choice of the theme of Time and Age – both these look back to the Anglo-Saxons and forward to the nineteenth century. Yet his form is French. The heart is insular and romantic, the head cool and continental: it is a good combination.”

John Gower

C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (1975 [1936]), p. 222.
Criticism

Similar authors

Bede photo
Bede4
English monk and saint None
Julian of Norwich photo
Julian of Norwich372
English theologian and anchoress None
Cædmon photo
Cædmon3
Ancient English poet None
Dante Alighieri photo
Dante Alighieri105
Italian poet None
Giovanni Boccaccio photo
Giovanni Boccaccio27
Italian author and poet None
Cassiodorus photo
Cassiodorus8
consul of the Roman Empire None
Catherine of Genoa photo
Catherine of Genoa29
Italian author and nurse None
Omar Khayyám photo
Omar Khayyám94
Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer None
Avicenna photo
Avicenna8
medieval Persian polymath, physician, and philosopher None
Roger Bacon photo
Roger Bacon21
medieval philosopher and theologian None