John Skelton Quotes

• Steadfast of thought, Well made, well wrought, Far may be sought, Ere that ye can find So courteous, so kind As merry Margaret, This midsummer flower, Gentle as falcon Or hawk of the tower.
• There is nothynge that more dyspleaseth God, Than from theyr children to spare the rod.
• Gentle Paul, laie doune thy sweard For Peter of Westminster hath shaven thy beard.
• He ruleth all the roste.
• Old proverbe says, That byrd ys not honest That fyleth hys owne nest.
• I say, thou mad March hare, I wonder how ye dare Open your jangling jaws To preach in any clause, Like prating popping daws, Against her excellence, Against her reverence, Against her pre-eminence, Against her magnificence, That never did offence.
• PLA ce bo! Who is there, who? Di le xi! Dame Margery, Fa, re, my, my. Wherefore and why, why? For the soul of Philip Sparrow That was late slain at Carrow, Among the Nunnes Black. For that sweet soules sake, And for all sparrows' souls, Set in our bead-rolls, Pater noster qui, With an Ave Mari, And with the corner of a Creed, The more shall be your meed.
• When I remember again How my Philip was slain, Never half the pain Was between you twain, Pyramus and Thisbe, As then befell to me. I wept and I wailed, The teares down hailed, But nothing it availed To call Philip again Whom Gib, our cat, hath slain.
• Maide, wydowe, or wyffe.
• Like Andromach, Hector's wife, Was weary of her life, When she had lost her joy, Noble Hector of Troy; In like manner also Increaseth my deadly woe, For my sparrow is go.
• For though my ryme be ragged, Tattered and jagged, Rudely rayne beaten, Rusty and moughte eaten, It hath in it some pyth.
• In the spight of his teeth.
• He knew what is what.
• By hoke ne by croke.
• The wolfe from the dore.

john skelton