Whanne that April with his shoures sote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote.
The General Prologue

And smale foules maken melodie,
That slepen alle night with open eye,
So priketh hem nature in hir corages;
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages.
The General Prologue

And of his port as meke as is a mayde.
The General Prologue

He was a veray parfit gentil knight.
The General Prologue

He coude songes make, and wel endite.
The General Prologue

Ful wel she sange the service devine,
Entuned in hire nose ful swetely;
And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly,
After the scole of Stratford atte bowe,
For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe.
The General Prologue

A Clerk ther was of Oxenforde also.
The General Prologue

For him was lever han at his beddes hed
A twenty bokes, clothed in black or red,
Of Aristotle, and his philosophie,
Than robes riche, or fidel, or sautrie.
But all be that he was a philosophre,
Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre.
The General Prologue

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.
The General Prologue

Nowher so besy a man as he ther n' as,
And yet he semed besier than he was.
The General Prologue

His studie was but litel on the Bible.
The General Prologue

For gold in phisike is a cordial;
Therefore he loved gold in special.
The General Prologue

Wide was his parish, and houses fer asonder.
The General Prologue

This noble ensample to his shepe he yaf,-
That first he wrought, and afterwards he taught.
The General Prologue

But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught; but first he folwed it himselve.
The General Prologue

And yet he had a thomb of gold parde.
The General Prologue

Who so shall telle a tale after a man,
He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can,
Everich word, if it be in his charge,
All speke he never so rudely and so large;
Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe,
Or feinen thinges, or finden word
The General Prologue

For May wol have no slogardie a-night.
The seson priketh every gentil herte,
And maketh him out of his slepe to sterte.
The Knight's Tale

That field hath eyen, and the wood hath ears.
The Knight's Tale

Up rose the sonne, and up rose Emelie.
The Knight's Tale

Min be the travaille, and thin be the glorie.
The Knight's Tale

To maken vertue of necessite.
The Knight's Tale

And brought of mighty ale a large quart.
The Miller's Tale

Ther n' is no werkman whatever he be,
That may both werken wel and hastily.
The Merchant's Tale

Yet in our ashen cold is fire yreken.
The Reeve's Tale

The gretest clerkes ben not the wisest men.
The Reeve's Tale

So was hire joly whistle wel ywette.
The Reeve's Tale

In his owen grese I made him frie.
The Reeve's Tale

And for to see, and eek for to be seie.
The Wife of Bath's Tale

I hold a mouses wit not worth a leke,
That hath but on hole for to sterten to.
The Wife of Bath's Tale

Loke who that is most vertuous alway,
Prive and apert, and most entendeth ay
To do the gentil dedes that he can,
And take him for the gretest gentilman.
The Wife of Bath's Tale

This flour of wifly patience.
The Clerk's Tale

They demen gladly to the badder end.
The Squire's Tale

Fie on possession,
But if a man be vertuous withal.
The Franklin's Tale

Truth is the highest thing that man may keep.
The Franklin's Tale

Full wise is he that can himselven knowe.
The Monk's Tale

Mordre wol out, that see we day by day.
The Nun's Priest's Tale

But all thing which that shineth as the gold
Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told.
The Canon's Yeoman's Tale

The firste vertue, sone, if thou wilt lere,
Is to restreine and kepen wel thy tonge.
The Manciple's Tale

The proverbe saith that many a smale maketh a grate.
The Parson's Tale

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