John Gower Quotes

John Gower's verses feel like a medieval mentor guiding you through writing, balance and love.

16 quotes

  1. For whan men wene best to have achieved, Ful ofte it is al newe to beginne: The werre hath no thing siker, thogh he winne.

  2. Bot for men sein, and soth it is, That who that al of wisdom writ It dulleth ofte a mannes wit To him that schal it aldai rede, For thilke cause, if that ye rede, I wolde go the middel weie And wryte a bok betwen the tweie, Somwhat of lust, somewhat of lore.

  3. But in proverbe I have herde say, That who that wel his werk beginneth, The rather a good end he winneth.

  4. For loves lawe is out of reule.

  5. It hath and schal ben everemor That love is maister wher he wile.

  6. He hath the sor which no man heleth, The which is cleped lack of herte.

  7. O fol of alle foles, Thou farst as he betwen tuo stoles That wolde sitte and goth to grounde.

  8. The beaute faye upon her face Non erthly thing it may desface.

  9. Nevere yit Was non, which half so loste his wit Of drinke, as thei of such thing do Which cleped is the jolif wo.

  10. What is a lond wher men ben none? What ben the men whiche are alone Withoute a kinges governance? What is a king in his ligance, Wher that ther is no lawe in londe? What is to take lawe on honde, Bot if the jugges weren trewe?

  11. So goth the world, now wo, now wel.

  12. O moral Gower!

  13. In the content of his work it is interesting to notice that he is profoundly English. His romanticism, and his choice of the theme of Time and Age - both these look back to the Anglo-Saxons and forward to the nineteenth century. Yet his form is French. The heart is insular and romantic, the head cool and continental: it is a good combination.

  14. A king may spille, a king may save; A king may make of lorde a knave; And of a knave a lorde also.

  15. For who that noght dar undertake, Be riht he schal no profit take [For who that dare not undertake, By right he shall no profit take. i.e., Nothing ventured, nothing gained.]

  16. “There is no deception on the part of the woman, where a man bewilders himself: if he deludes his own wits, I can certainly acquit the women. Whatever man allows his mind to dwell upon the imprint his imagination has foolishly taken of women, is fanning the flames within himself -- and, since the woman knows nothing about it, she is not to blame. For if a man incites himself to drown, and will not restrain himself, it is not the water's fault.”