25 Quotes & Sayings By Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet and author, widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. He is best known today for The Canterbury Tales, a collection of narratives that focus on pilgrims traveling to the Cathedral of Saint Paul in London. He was a master of the medieval English language, acquiring a reputation for being one of the greatest wordsmiths in all of literature.

The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
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The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne. Geoffrey Chaucer
His spirit chaunged house and wente ther, As I cam...
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His spirit chaunged house and wente ther, As I cam nevere, I kan nat tellen wher. Geoffrey Chaucer
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... murder wol out Geoffrey Chaucer
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People have managed to marry without arithmetic Geoffrey Chaucer
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You will not be master of my body & my property Geoffrey Chaucer
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We know little of the things for which we pray Geoffrey Chaucer
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Lo, which a greet thing is affeccioun! Men may die of imaginacioun, So depe may impressioun be take. Geoffrey Chaucer
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By God, if women had written stories, As clerks had within here oratories, They would have written of men more wickedness Than all the mark of Adam may redress. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Then the Miller fell off his horse. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Thus in this heaven he took his delight And smothered her with kisses upon kisses Till gradually he came to know where bliss is. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Chese now, " quod she, "oon of thise thynges tweye: To han me foul and old til that I deye, And be to yow a trewe, humble wyf, And nevere yow displese in al my lyf, Or elles ye wol han me yong and fair, And take youre aventure of the repair That shal be to youre hous by cause of me, Or in som oother place, may wel be. Now chese yourselven, wheither that yow liketh. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Earn what you can since everything's for sale Geoffrey Chaucer
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You are the cause by which I die Geoffrey Chaucer
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I know that my singing doesn’t make the moon rise, nor does it make the stars shine. But without my song, the night would seem empty and incomplete. There is more to daybreak than light, just as there is more to nighttime than darkness. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Doctors & druggists wash each other's hands Geoffrey Chaucer
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And after winter folweth grene May. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Make a virtue of necessity. Geoffrey Chaucer
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But Lord Crist! whan that it remembreth me Upon my yowthe and on my jolitee It tickleth me aboute myn herte roote. Unto this day it dooth myn herte boote That I have had my world as in my tyme. But age alias! that al wole envenyme Hath me biraft my beautee and my pith. Lat go farewel! the devel go therwith! The flour is goon ther is namoore to telle The bren as I best kan now most I selle. Geoffrey Chaucer
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No-wher so bisy a man as he ter nas And yet he semed bisier that he was. Geoffrey Chaucer
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First he wrought and afterwards he taught. Geoffrey Chaucer
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The greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people. Geoffrey Chaucer
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Women desire six things: They want their husbands to be brave, wise, rich, generous, obedient to wife, and lively in bed. Geoffrey Chaucer
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People can die of mere imagination. Geoffrey Chaucer
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By nature, men love newfangledness. Geoffrey Chaucer