Quotes from book
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. In 1386, Chaucer became Controller of Customs and Justice of Peace and, in 1389, Clerk of the King's work. It was during these years that Chaucer began working on his most famous text, The Canterbury Tales. The tales are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.
“the greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people”
The Reeve's Tale, l. 134
The Canterbury Tales
Variant: The gretteste clerkes been noght wisest men.
Source: The Complete Poetry and Prose
The Knight's Tale, IV, 1919 - 1921
The Canterbury Tales
The Nun's Priest's Tale, l. 672-677
The Canterbury Tales
“Thanne is it wysdom, as it thynketh me,
To maken vertu of necessity,”
The Knight's Tale, lV 2177 - 2186
The Canterbury Tales
Context: p>What maketh this, but Juppiter the kyng,
That is prince and cause of alle thyng
Convertynge al unto his propre welle
From which it is deryved, sooth to telle,
And heer-agayns no creature on lyve
Of no degree availleth for to strive.Thanne is it wysdom, as it thynketh me,
To maken vertu of necessity,
And take it weel, that we may nat eschue;
And namely, that to us alle is due.</p
“This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro”
The Knight's Tale, lV, 1990 - 1992
The Canterbury Tales
Context: This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro;
Deeth is an ende of every worldly soore.
“And therfore, at the kynges court, my brother,
Ech man for hymself, ther is noon other.”
The Knight's Tale, l. 1181-1182
The Canterbury Tales
“Ful wys is he that kan hymselven knowe!”
The Monk's Tale, l. 3329
The Canterbury Tales
Source: The Riverside Chaucer
General Prologue, l. 305 - 310
Source: The Canterbury Tales
Context: Of studie took he most cure and most hede.
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.
“Therfore bihoveth hire a ful long spoon
That shal ete with a feend.”
The Squire's Tale, l. 594-95
The Canterbury Tales
The Franklin's Tale, l. 767-770
The Canterbury Tales
The Wife of Bath's Prologue, l. 525-529
The Canterbury Tales
