John Gower Quotes

• 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.
• 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.
• But in proverbe I have herde say, That who that wel his werk beginneth, The rather a good end he winneth.
• For loves lawe is out of reule.
• It hath and schal ben everemor That love is maister wher he wile.
• He hath the sor which no man heleth, The which is cleped lack of herte.
• O fol of alle foles, Thou farst as he betwen tuo stoles That wolde sitte and goth to grounde.
• The beaute faye upon her face Non erthly thing it may desface.
• Nevere yit Was non, which half so loste his wit Of drinke, as thei of such thing do Which cleped is the jolif wo.
• 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?
• So goth the world, now wo, now wel.
• O moral Gower!
• 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.

john gower