Canterbury Tales Greed Quotes

His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas,
And eek his face, as he hadde been enoynt.
He was a lord ful fat and in good poynt;
His eyen stepe, and rollynge in his heed,
That stemed as a forneys of a leed…
A fat swan loved he best of any roost.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. In contrast to other monks who are thin because they work hard and fast regularly, the Monk is described as fat with plenty of flesh on him and bald with bulging eyes. A sign that eats well and often, and doesn’t work too hard. He is said to love a fat swan better than any roast. The Monk is a greedy man with an appetite, not just for fine food, but for all kinds of worldly things and pursuits, including hunting and fine clothes.

For unto a povre ordre for to yive
Is signe that a man is wel yshryve;
For if he yaf, he dorste make avaunt,
He wiste that a man was repentaunt.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. In the Friar’s Alice in Wonderland version of Christianity, a sinner makes a true confession and shows repentance by giving him a donation! After all the Friar is a member of a "povre ordre" (poor order), isn’t he? So much for remorse, showing true sorrow for your sins and acts of restitution – which is what confession is meant to be about! But greedy Hubert has turned the sacrament into a nice earner for himself.

For many a man so hard is of his herte,
He may nat wepe, althogh hym soore smerte.
Therfore in stede of wepynge and preyeres
Men moote yeve silver to the povre freres.
His typet was ay farsed ful of knyves.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. This is a comical, hilarious and ironic description of the life of Friar Hubert. His pockets are lined with silver, as sinners in the confessional are urged to spare the tears and prayers for their wrongdoings, and give silver instead. Chaucer is superbly ironic in his reference to "to povre freres." But no poverty for this Friar!
Yblessed be God, that I have wedded fyve - Wife of Bath

Yblessed be God, that I have wedded fyve;
Of whiche I have pyked out the beste,
Bothe of here nether purs and of here cheste.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Thanking God that she wedded five husbands and picked out the best, the Wife of Bath reveals what she looked for in each of them. Sexual potency ("nether purs" – scrotum) and wealth ("here cheste" – strongbox) were the two requirements. A husband had to provide her with sexual satisfaction and financial security.

A wys womman wol bisye hire evere in oon
To gete hire love, ye, ther as she hath noon.
But sith I hadde hem hoolly in myn hond,
And sith they hadde me yeven al hir lond,
What sholde I taken keep hem for to plese,
But it were for my profit and myn ese?

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. A wise woman will be constantly busy to get herself loved when she is not, says the Wife of Bath. But since she had her first three husbands wholly in her hand and they had given her all their land, why should she go out of her way to please them? Unless it was for her profit and pleasure, of course! These comments speak to Alison’s greed.

But tel me this: why hydestow, with sorwe,
The keyes of thy cheste awey fro me?
It is my good as wel as thyn, pardee!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is my own! Marital equality goes out the window if you’re married to the Wife of Bath. In this passage Alison demands the keys of the strongbox from her husband that she claims he is hiding, saying the money is her property as well as his. Her goal is total control over her husband and his wealth.

Now by that lord that called is Seint Jame,
Thou shalt nat bothe, thogh that thou were wood,
Be maister of my body and of my good;
That oon thou shalt forgo, maugree thyne yen.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Using her sexuality as a weapon of power and as a commodity for sale, the Wife of Bath puts it to her husband that he can’t be master of both her body and possessions. One of them he must give up, she says. Greedy Alison is candid about using her body to manipulate her husband into giving her the gold and riches she desires.

Atte ende I hadde the bettre in ech degree,
By sleighte, or force, or by som maner thyng,
As by continueel murmur or grucchyng.
Namely abedde hadden they meschaunce:
Ther wolde I chide and do hem no plesaunce;
I wolde no lenger in the bed abyde,
If that I felte his arm over my syde,
Til he had maad his raunson unto me;
Thanne wolde I suffre hym do his nycetee.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The Wife of Bath boasts how she achieved sovereignty over her husbands and got what she wanted by using trickery, force and continuous complaining. This extended to the bedroom where Alison would scold and withhold sex from her husband. That is, until he (metaphorically) paid his ransom to her, only then she would let him have his pleasure. Anyone can profit and everything is for sale, says Alison, who will sell her body to satisfy her greed for money and material things.

"Now certes," quod this Somonour, "so fare I.
I spare nat to taken, God it woot,
But if it be to hevy or to hoot.
What I may gete in conseil prively,
No maner conscience of that have I.
Nere myn extorcioun, I myghte nat lyven."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Friar’s Tale. The Summoner admits to the Yeoman (Devil in disguise) that he too lives by extortion, in his case stealing the money that he collects from peasants. The collections he makes he doesn’t give to his archdeacon but keeps for himself. He doesn’t tell those he takes the money from that it goes straight into his pocket, and not to the church. And he has no pangs of conscience about it, this greedy church official boasts, for were it not for his extortion he could not live.

"Brother," quod he, "heere woneth an old rebekke
"Brother," said he, "here dwells an old crone
That hadde almoost as lief to lese hire nekke
As for to yeve a peny of hir good.
I wole han twelf pens, though that she be wood,
Or I wol sompne hire unto oure office;
And yet, God woot, of hire knowe I no vice.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Friar’s Tale. The greedy Summoner hatches a plot with the Devil to blackmail an old widow woman with a threat to summons her on trumped up charges before the ecclesiastical court, unless she pays him twelve pence. He admits that she is not guilty of any vice that he knows of.

"Pay me," quod he, "or by the sweete Seinte Anne,
As I wol bere awey thy newe panne
For dette which thou owest me of old.
Whan that thou madest thyn housbonde cokewold,
I payde at hoom for thy correccioun."
"Thou lixt!" quod she, "by my savacioun,
Ne was I nevere er now, wydwe ne wyf,
Somoned unto youre court in al my lyf;
Ne nevere I nas but of my body trewe!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Friar’s Tale. The Summoner attempts to extort money from the old widow using lies and deceit. He tells her she has already been fined by the church court for being unfaithful to her husband and that he paid the fine. He threatens to take her new pan as payment, if she doesn’t give him a twelve pence bribe. But the woman dismisses the greedy Summoner’s claims as a pack of lies, saying she was always true to her body, and refuses to pay.

Have I nat of a capon but the lyvere,
And of youre softe breed nat but a shyvere,
And after that a rosted pigges heed –
But that I nolde no beest for me were deed –
Thanne hadde I with yow hoomly suffisaunce.
I am a man of litel sustenaunce;
My spirit hath his fostryng in the Bible.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner’s Tale. After Thomas’s wife asks him what he would like to eat, Friar John orders a substantial meal, which includes a roasted pig’s head, capon liver and soft white bread. He then lies that he is a man of little sustenance. He adds that his spirit has its nourishment in the Bible – although he has already admitted that he only glosses it and doesn’t strictly stick to holy writ. He is quite the greedy gut and hypocrite.

Nere thou oure brother, sholdestou nat thryve.
In our chapitre praye we day and nyght
To Crist, that he thee sende heele and myght
Thy body for to weelden hastily.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner’s Tale. Warning Thomas that were he not brother to the friars, he would not thrive, the Friar is suggesting that Thomas’s illness will persist if he gives little money to the friars. He claims that they pray day and night for Christ to send Thomas health and strength, hoping that will encourage a healthier donation from him.

And thanne my bulles shewe I, alle and some.
Oure lige lordes seel on my patente,
That shewe I first, my body to warente,
That no man be so boold, ne preest ne clerk,
Me to destourbe of Cristes hooly werk.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. Before he launches into a sermon the Pardoner goes through a showy flourish of his papal bulls and seals to prove his right to sell pardons. All part of Christ’s holy work, he hypocritically explains. But the greedy Pardoner’s real goal is to collect as much money as possible to line his own pockets.

He that his hand wol putte in this mitayn,
He shal have multipliyng of his grayn,
Whan he hath sowen, be it whete or otes,
So that he offre pens, or elles grotes.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. In another of the Pardoner’s con tricks, he markets a magic mitten to his audiences as a great financial investment. All you do is put you hand in the mitten and your grain crops will multiply and make you rich, he says, appealing to people’s greed. And it only costs a few pennies to buy, urges the Pardoner, the only person who will get rich from his scheme!

If that this boon be wasshe in any welle,
If cow, or calf, or sheep, or oxe swelle
That any worm hath ete, or worm ystonge,
Taak water of that welle and wassh his tonge,
Of pokkes and of scabbe, and every soore
Shal every sheep be hool that of this welle
Drynketh a draughte.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. As part of his con, the Pardoner admits selling people on the miraculous healing powers of a shoulder bone from a holy Jew’s sheep. He spins them a tale that if it is washed in any well, the water from that well will cure any animal sick from parasites, pox, scabs and sores. No doubt the fast-talking, licensed seller of papal pardons won plenty of unsuspecting customers for his "magic" bones.

Goode men and wommen, o thyng warne I yow:
If any wight be in this chirche now
That hath doon synne horrible, that he
Dar nat, for shame, of it yshryven be,
Or any womman, be she yong or old,
That hath ymaked hir housbonde cokewold,
Swich folk shal have no power ne no grace
To offren to my relikes in this place.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. This neat sales pitch has to win Salesman and Marketer of the Year Award for the Pardoner! He uses it when trying to sell his fake "relics" to church congregations. He tells them that anyone who is guilty of a serious sin will have no power to purchase his relics. He specifically mentions wives who have committed adultery – are women his best customers? Boy, you can see them queuing up after that, purses out, to prove that they are without sin!

By this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer,
An hundred mark sith I was pardoner.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. The Pardoner boasts that he makes a good living from his different con tricks, including selling fake relics, sheep bones with miraculous powers and magic mittens. Chaucer pains a very satirical and cynical portrait of the licensed seller of indulgences – ecclesiastical pardons of sins – who himself repeatedly commits the cardinal sin of greed.

I stonde lyk a clerk in my pulpet,
And whan the lewed peple is doun yset,
I preche so as ye han herd bifoore
And telle an hundred false japes moore.
Thanne peyne I me to strecche forth the nekke,
And est and west upon the peple I bekke,
As dooth a dowve sittynge on a berne.
Myne handes and my tonge goon so yerne
That it is joye to se my bisynesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. The cynical Pardoner prides himself on his theatrical air that he employs to preach his false stories to the uneducated people. Using a simile, he likens himself to a dove sitting atop a barn, stretching forth his neck to peer down at the people, hands and tongue working so quickly that it’s a joy to see him in action. You nearly admire how skilled this conman is at suckering money out of the faithful – in the name of religion! As well as greed, he is guilty of another of the Seven Deadly Sins here – pride!
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