"With him ther was his sone, a yong , A lovyere, and a lusty bacheler, With lokkes crulle, as they were leyd in presse. Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse. Of his stature he was of evene lengthe, And wonderly deliver, and greet of strengthe."

"Curteys he was, lowly, and servisable, And carf biforn his fader at the table."

"And of his port as meke as is a mayde."

"And, whan he rood, men mighte his brydel here Ginglen in a whistling wind as clere, And eek as loude as dooth the chapel-belle."

"He was a verray parfit gentil knight."

"For those whom God to ruin has designed, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind."

"Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open yë, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages): Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages."

"And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The holy blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke."

"That desperate cures must be to desperate ills applied."

"Secret guilt by silence is betrayed."

"Possess your soul with patience."

"To abhor the makers, and their laws approve, Is to hate traitors, and the treason love."

"Bifel that, in that seson on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage To Caunterbury with ful devout corage, At night was come in-to that hostelrye Wel nyne and twenty in a companye."

"For present joys are more to flesh and blood, Than a dull prospect of a distant good."

"By education most have been misled; So they believe, because they so were bred. The priest continues what the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the man."

"War seldom enters but where wealth allures."

"Much malice, mingled with a little wit, Perhaps may censure this mysterious writ."

"He yaf nat of that text a pulled hen, That seith, that hunters been nat holy men."

"Let the guiltless person throw the stone."

"Jealousy, the jaundice of the soul."

"A ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first bigan To ryden out, he loved chivalrye, Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisye. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, And therto hadde he riden (no man ferre) As wel in Cristendom as hethenesse, And ever honoured for his worthinesse."

"Eternal house, not built with mortal hands!"

"Who can believe what varies every day, Nor ever was, nor will be at a stay?"

"All have not the gift of martyrdom."

"And leaves the private conscience for the guide."

"And kind as kings upon their coronation day."

"Too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell."

"As long as words a different sense will bear, And each may be his own interpreter, Our airy faith will no foundation find, The word's a weathercock for every wind."

"That men may err was never yet denied."

"My thoughtless youth was winged with vain desires; My manhood, long misled by wandering fires, Followed false lights; and, when their glimpse was gone, My pride struck out new sparkles of her own. Such was I, such by nature still I am; Be thine the glory, and be mine the shame! Good life be now my task; my doubts are done; What more could fright my faith, than Three in One?"

"For you may palm upon us new for old; All, as they say, that glitters, is not gold."

"Of all the tyrannies on human-kind, The worst is that which persecutes the mind."

"For truth has such a face and such a mien, As to be loved needs only to be seen."

"When the cause goes hard, the guilty man Excepts, and thins his jury all he can."

"A milk-white Hind, immortal and unchanged, Fed on the lawns, and in the forest ranged; Without unspotted, innocent within, She feared no danger, for she knew no sin."

"And doomed to death, though fated not to die."

"Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive; The first is law, the last prerogative."

"What politician yet e'er 'scaped his fate, Who saving his own neck not saved the state?"

"Doeg, though without knowing how or why, Made still a blundering kind of melody; Spurred boldly on, and dashed through thick and thin, Through sense and nonsense, never out nor in; Free from all meaning, whether good or bad, And, in one word, heroically mad."

"Railing in other men may be a crime, But ought to pass for mere instinct in him; Instinct he follows and no farther knows, For to write verse with him is to transprose."

"For lawful power is still superior found; When long driven back, at length it stands the ground."

"Gulled with a patriot's name, whose modern sense Is one that would by law supplant his prince; The people's brave, the politician's tool; Never was patriot yet, but was a fool."

"From plots and treasons heaven preserve my years, But save me most from my petitioners! Unsatiate as the barren womb or grave; God cannot grant so much as they can crave."

"With all this bulk there's nothing lost in Og, For every inch, that is not fool, is rogue; A monstrous mass of foul corrupted matter, As all the devils had spewed to make the batter. When wine has given him courage to blaspheme, He curses God, but God before curst him; And if man could have reason, none has more, That made his paunch so rich, and him so poor."

"Oh, that my power to saving were confined! Why am I forced, like heaven, against my mind, To make examples of another kind? Must I at length the sword of justice draw? Oh curst effects of necessary law! How ill my fear they by my mercy scan! Beware the fury of a patient man."

"Either be wholly slaves, or wholly free."

"Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense Flows in fit words, and heavenly eloquence."

"His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas."

"For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before, That change they covet makes them suffer more. All other errors but disturb a state; But innovation is the blow of fate."

"The court he practised, not the courtier's art: Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart."