“And fadir Chaucer fayn wolde han me taght;
But I was dul and lernèd lite or naght.
Allas! my worthi maister honorable,
This landës verray tresor and richesse.”
And father, Chaucer, fain would have me taught;
But I was dull, and little learned or naught.
Alas! my worthy master honouráble,
This landés very treasure and richéssė.
Source: Regement of Princes (c. 1412), Line 2078; vol. 3, pp. 75-6; modernized-spelling version from Henry S. Pancoast (ed.) English Prose and Verse from Beowulf to Stevenson (New York: H. Holt, 1915) pp. 81-2.
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Thomas Occleve 9
British writer 1369–1426Related quotes
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Context: Dreyfus is innocent. I swear it! I stake my life on it — my honor! At this solemn moment, in the presence of this tribunal which is the representative of human justice, before you, gentlemen of the jury, who are the very incarnation of the country, before the whole of France, before the whole world, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. By my forty years of work, by the authority that this toil may have given me, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. By all I have now, by the name I have made for myself, by my works which have helped for the expansion of French literature, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. May all that melt away, may my works perish if Dreyfus be not innocent! He is innocent. All seems against me — the two Chambers, the civil authority, the military authority, the most widely-circulated journals, the public opinion which they have poisoned. And I have for me only an ideal of truth and justice. But I am quite calm; I shall conquer. I was determined that my country should not remain the victim of lies and injustice. I may be condemned here. The day will come when France will thank me for having helped to save her honor.