“The gretest clerkes ben not the wisest men.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book The Canterbury Tales
The Reeve's Tale, l. 4051
The Canterbury Tales
“The greatest Clerkes be not the wisest men.”
Part II, chapter 5.
Proverbs (1546), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "The greatest Clerkes be not the wisest men." by John Heywood?
John Heywood139
English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of p… 1497–1580Related quotes
“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
This appears to be an anonymous proverb of unknown authorship, only occasionally attributed to Addison.
Misattributed
“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.”
Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Not original to this work, the proverb dates from at least the 18th century.
Source: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), Ch. 12, 'Back to The Chocolate Factory' (p.88 in the Paperback edition (1998) from Puffin)
Sarada Devi (1853–1920) Hindu religious figure, spiritual consort of Ramakrishna
[In the Company of the Holy Mother, 200]
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
Cut down the proud towering thoughts that you get into you, or see they be pure as well as high. There is a nobler ambition than the gaining of all California would be, or the getting of all the suffrages that are on the planet just now.
1860s, On The Choice Of Books (1866)