Full is my heart of revelry and grace.” But suddenly he fell in grievous case; For ever the latter end of joy is woe. God knows that worldly joys do swiftly go; And if a rhetorician could but write, He in some chronicle might well indite And mark it down as sovereign in degree.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes

Well is it said that neither love nor power Admit a rival, even for an hour.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Woe to him who is alone, since, if he falls, he has no help to rise.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

One night the citizens of Rome revolted Against his tyrannies and mad ambition And, when he heard them mutiny, he bolted Alone and sought his friends for coalition. The more he knocked and begged them for admission The more they shut their doors and said him nay. And then he saw that of his own perdition He was sole author and he fled away. The people yelled for him and rumbled round So that their shouts were dinning in his ear: ‘Where’s Nero? Where’s the tyrant? Treacherous hound!

— Geoffrey Chaucer

And after winter folweth grene May.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

He was an easy man to mete out Penance when a good gift he expected to receive. Forsooth, to donate generously unto a poor Order is a sign that a man is well shriven. For if a man gave, the Friar dared to assert, he knew that the man was repentant. So hard is the heart of many a man that he cannot weep, though he may sorely suffer for his sins. Therefore, in the stead of weeping and praying, men must give silver to the poor Friars.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

But we’ll try anything once hot or cold; A man must be a young food, or an old.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

So astute was he in his buying and selling, and in his borrowings, that no one knew if he was in debt.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

High in moral virtue was his speech, and gladly would he learn and gladly teach.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

By Pluto sent at the request of Saturn. Arcita’s horse in terror danced a pattern And leapt aside and foundered as he leapt, And ere he was aware Arcite was swept Out of the saddle and pitched upon his head Onto the ground, and there he lay for dead; His breast was shattered by the saddle-bow.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

And Christ’s law and His Apostles twelve he taught, but first he followed it himself.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Wherever there is drunkenness about No secret can be hidden, make no doubt.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Just as there never died a man,” quoth he, “But he had lived on earth in some degree, Just so there never lived a man,” he said, “In all this world, but must be sometime dead. This world is but a thoroughfare of woe, And we are pilgrims passing to and fro;.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

His spirit changed house, and vanished there, Where I have not been, so cannot say where.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

A priest should take to heart the shameful scene of shepards filthy while the sheep are clean.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

A faithful servant is more diligent in keeping your goods safe than is your own wife, because she will claim a half part of your worth all her life.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Till we be roten, kan we not be rypen?

— Geoffrey Chaucer

La avaricia es la causa de todos los vicios.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Los timadores, al final, acaban siendo ellos mismos timados.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Lost money is not lost beyond recall, But loss of time brings on the loss of all.

— Geoffrey Chaucer

Having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.

— Geoffrey Chaucer
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