Geoffrey Chaucer Men Quotations

Nowhere so busy a man as he than he, and yet he seemed busier than he was.

Seeke out ye goode in everie man, and speke of alle the beste ye can; then wil alle men speke wel of thee and say how kynde of hearte ye bee

The gretteste clerkes been noght wisest men.

In the stars is written the death of every man.

Trouthe is the hyest thyng that man may kepe.

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.

Time and tide wait for no man.

Truth is the highest thing that man may keep.

Time lost, as men may see, For nothing may recovered be.

. . . if gold rust, what then will iron do?/ For if a priest be foul in whom we trust/ No wonder that a common man should rust. . . .

For thogh we slepe, or wake, or rome, or ryde, Ay fleeth the tyme; it nyl no man abyde.

For out of old fields, as men saith, Cometh all this new corn from year to year; And out of old books, in good faith, Cometh all this new science that men learn.

If a man really loves a woman, of course he wouldn't marry her for the world if he were not quite sure that he was the best person she could possibly marry.

That of all the floures in the mede, Thanne love I most these floures white and rede, Suche as men callen daysyes in her toune.

For oute of olde feldys, as men sey, Comyth al this newe corn from yer to yere; And out of olde bokis, in good fey, Comyth al this newe science that men lere.

The Iyf so short, the craft so long to lerne, Thassay so hard, so sharp the conquenng. . . . . For out of olde feldes, as men seith, Cometh al this newe corn fro yeer to yere; And out of olde bokes, in good feith, Cometh al this newe science that men lere.

Of alle the floures in the mede, Than love I most these floures whyte and rede, Swiche as men callen daysies in our toun. . . . . Til that myn herte dye. . . . . That wel by reson men hit calle may The 'dayesye' or elles the 'ye of day,' The emperice and flour of floures alle. I pray to god that faire mot she falle, And alle that loven floures, for hir sake!

Men love newfangleness.

By nature, men love newfangledness.

Fie on possession, But if a man be vertuous withal.

And when a beest is deed, he hath no peyne; But man after his deeth moot wepe and pleyne.

Men sholde nat knowe of Goddes pryvetee Ye, blessed be alwey, a lewed man That noght but oonly his believe kan! So ferde another clerk with astromye, He walked in the feelds, for to prye Upon the sterres, what ther sholde bifalle, Til he was in a marle-pit yfalle.

Drunkenness is the very sepulcher Of man's wit and his discretion.

My house is small, but you are learned men And by your arguments can make a place Twenty foot broad as infinite as space.

With emptie hands men may no haukes lure.

Yet do not miss the moral, my good men. For Saint Paul says that all that’s written well Is written down some useful truth to tell. Then take the wheat and let the chaff lie still.

No empty handed man can lure a bird

For of fortunes sharp adversitee The worst kynde of infortune is this, A man to han ben in prosperitee, And it remembren, whan it passed is.

Ek gret effect men write in place lite; Th'entente is al, and nat the lettres space.

Remember in the forms of speech comes change Within a thousand years, and words that then Were well esteemed, seem foolish now and strange; And yet they spake them so, time and again, And thrived in love as well as any men; And so to win their loves in sundry days, In sundry lands there are as many ways.