Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home»
Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes

51 Insightful Quotes By Geoffrey Chaucer, The Father Of English Literature

Famous As: 14 Century English Poet & Author Best Known for His Book 'The Canterbury Tales'

Born On: 1340 AD

Died On: 1400

Born In: London, England

Died At Age: 60

Geoffrey Chaucer was the first writer to use English language in his works. He was exalted for his work, ‘The Canterbury Tales’. Geoffrey is considered to be the ‘Father of English Literature’ and the first poet to be buried at the ‘Poets Coroner’ at Westminster Abbey. Besides being an astronomer, author and philosopher he also served as a bureaucrat, diplomat and courtier. ‘The Book of the Duchess’ was his first major work. His writings covered varied topics and through these he expressed his thoughts, which became popular as quotations and sayings. His later books like ‘The House of Fame’, 'Troilus and Criseyde', 'Parlement of Foules' and 'The Legend of Good Women' earned him recognition. He is believed to have died in October 1400, as no further furnished records were found. His writings, essays, sayings and quotes were a work of art. We have put together a collection of some of his notable quotes.

Listed In:

Writers

Poets

Patience is a conquering virtue.
Geoffrey Chaucer

The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.

The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
Geoffrey Chaucer

What is better than wisdom? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing.

What is better than wisdom? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing.
Geoffrey Chaucer

People can die of mere imagination
Geoffrey Chaucer

If gold rusts, what then can iron do?
Geoffrey Chaucer

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
Geoffrey Chaucer

The greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people

The greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people
Geoffrey Chaucer

No empty handed man can lure a bird
Geoffrey Chaucer

The guilty think all talk is of themselves.

The guilty think all talk is of themselves.
Think
Geoffrey Chaucer

Forbid Us Something and That Thing we Desire

Forbid Us Something and That Thing we Desire
Geoffrey Chaucer

Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Expierience treacherous. Judgement difficult.

Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Expierience treacherous. Judgement difficult.
Life Art
Geoffrey Chaucer

How potent is the fancy! People are so impressionable, they can die of imagination.

How potent is the fancy! People are so impressionable, they can die of imagination.
Geoffrey Chaucer

. . . 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. . . .

. . . 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. . . .
Will
Geoffrey Chaucer

Ful wys is he that kan himselve knowe.
Geoffrey Chaucer

Purity in body and heart
May please some--as for me, I make no boast.
For, as you know, no master of a household
Has all of his utensils made of gold;
Some are wood, and yet they are of use.

Purity in body and heart May please some--as for me, I make no boast. For, as you know, no master of a household Has all of his utensils made of gold; Some are wood, and yet they are of use.
You Me Heart I
Geoffrey Chaucer

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.
Geoffrey Chaucer

Love will not be constrain'd by mastery.
When mast'ry comes, the god of love anon
Beateth his wings, and, farewell, he is gone.
Love is a thing as any spirit free.

Love will not be constrain'd by mastery. When mast'ry comes, the god of love anon Beateth his wings, and, farewell, he is gone. Love is a thing as any spirit free.
Love God Will Farewell
Geoffrey Chaucer

I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity.

A Knight's Tale

I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity. A Knight's Tale
You Will Character I
Geoffrey Chaucer

You are the cause by which I die.
You I
Geoffrey Chaucer

All that glitters is not gold,
Geoffrey Chaucer

But Christ's lore and his apostles twelve,
He taught and first he followed it himself.

But Christ's lore and his apostles twelve, He taught and first he followed it himself.
Geoffrey Chaucer

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.

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.
God Women
Geoffrey Chaucer

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.

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.
Geoffrey Chaucer

And once he had got really drunk on wine,
Then he would speak no language but Latin.

And once he had got really drunk on wine, Then he would speak no language but Latin.
Geoffrey Chaucer

If no love is, O God, what fele I so?
And if love is, what thing and which is he?
If love be good, from whennes cometh my woo?
If it be wikke, a wonder thynketh me

If no love is, O God, what fele I so? And if love is, what thing and which is he? If love be good, from whennes cometh my woo? If it be wikke, a wonder thynketh me
Me Love God I
Geoffrey Chaucer

One flesh they are; and one flesh, so I'd guess,
Has but one heart, come grief or happiness.

One flesh they are; and one flesh, so I'd guess, Has but one heart, come grief or happiness.
Heart Happiness
Geoffrey Chaucer

For hym was levere have at his beddes heed
Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed,
Of Aristotle and his philosophie,
Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie.

For hym was levere have at his beddes heed Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophie, Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie.
Geoffrey Chaucer

For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust,
No wonder is a common man should rust

For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust, No wonder is a common man should rust" -The Prologue of Chaucers Canterbury Tales-
Geoffrey Chaucer

And high above, depicted in a tower,
Sat Conquest, robed in majesty and power,
Under a sword that swung above his head,
Sharp-edged and hanging by a subtle thread.

And high above, depicted in a tower, Sat Conquest, robed in majesty and power, Under a sword that swung above his head, Sharp-edged and hanging by a subtle thread.
Geoffrey Chaucer