Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English poet
Prologue of the Legend of Good Women, line 41
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“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.”
Prologue, line 12.
Confessio Amantis
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Do you have more details about the quote "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 …" by John Gower?
John Gower12
English writer 1330–1408Related quotes
Robert Mannyng (1275–1338) English chronicler
Chronicle, line 71.
“[A proverb is] one man's wit, and all men's wisdom.”
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions
Remark to James Mackintosh on October 6, 1830, reported in his posthumous memoir, Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, Vol. 2 (1836), p. 472 http://books.google.com/books?id=wHM4AAAAYAAJ&q=%22one+man's+wit+and+all+men's+wisdom%22&pg=PA472#v=onepage <br class="br">Variant: [A proverb is] the wisdom of many and the wit of one.
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 5, line 1835-1841
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
Context: 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.
Source: The Task (1785), Book VI, Winter Walk at Noon, Line 88.
“Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist
Source: Table Talk (1782), Line 542.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi (1964–2007) Pakistani fundamentalist
Sheikh Osama bin Laden, Bin Laden vows revenge on "infidel" Musharraf, Reuters, Sep 20, 2007 http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2041722020070920,.