Canterbury Tales Virtue Quotes

Of studie took he moost cure and moost heede.
Noght o word spak he moore than was neede,
And that was seyd in forme and reverence,
And short and quyk and ful of hy sentence;
Sownynge in moral vertu was his speche,
And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. The Clerk pays most heed to study and speaks no more than is needed. But when he does it is with respect and what he says is always full of moral virtue and substance. He is generous with his knowledge and happy to teach others.

A good man was ther of religioun,
And was a povre persoun of a toun,
But riche he was of hooly thoght and werk.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. These lines about the Parson are rich in irony, coming as they do after the descriptions of the wealth and decadence associated with some of the previous pilgrims, like the Monk and Friar. The Parson by contrast is poor, but rich in holy thought and work. He is the one religious character that actually lives his vow of poverty. But for morals and virtues and honest living, he is probably the richest of all.

In hire is heigh beautee, withoute pride,
Yowthe, withoute grenehede or folye;
To alle hire werkes vertu is hir gyde;
Humblesse hath slayn in hire al tirannye.
She is mirour of alle curteisye;
Hir herte is verray chambre of hoolynesse,
Hir hand, ministre of fredam for almesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. Visiting Syrian merchants hear the Emperor of Rome’s daughter Constance is the ideal woman. She is the epitome of beauty, goodness and innocence. As well as having great beauty, she is humble, virtuous in all her deeds, the mirror of all courtesy, her heart is a true chamber of holiness, and her hand a minister of generosity in giving alms. So it is not surprising that the Muslim Sultan of Syria falls for her when he learns of her.

O Sowdanesse, roote of iniquitee!
Virago, thou Semyrame the secounde!
O serpent under femynynytee,
Lik to the serpent depe in helle ybounde!
O feyned womman, al that may confounde
Vertu and innocence, thurgh thy malice,
Is bred in thee, as nest of every vice!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. The Man of Law depicts the Sultaness as an evil woman and a serpent from hell wearing the mask of femininity, who can destroy virtue and innocence through her malice. He portrays her at the arch-enemy of Constance, who is a symbol of virtue and innocence.

Hir child cride, and she cride pitously.
But blisful Marie heelp hire right anon;
For with hir struglyng wel and myghtily
The theef fil over bord al sodeynly,
And in the see he dreynte for vengeance;
And thus hath Crist unwemmed kept Custance.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. When an amorous steward comes on board Constance’s ship and says he will be her lover whether she likes it or not, she and her child cry. The Virgin Mary comes to her aid and the would-be rapist falls overboard and is drowned as a punishment for his sin. Thus Christ keeps Constance undefiled.

"But God woot," quod this senatour also,
"So vertuous a lyvere in my lyf
Ne saugh I nevere as she, ne herde of mo,
Of worldly wommen, mayde, ne of wyf.
I dar wel seyn hir hadde levere a knyf
Thurghout hir brest, than ben a womman wikke;
There is no man koude brynge hire to that prikke."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. The Senator who picked up Constance at sea and not knowing who she was brought her home to Rome sings the praises of her goodness. He has never seen so virtuous a woman in his life. She would rather be stabbed through the breast than be a wicked woman, no man could bring her to that point.

For thogh they yeve us al hir heritage,
For which we clayme to been of heigh parage,
Yet may they nat biquethe for no thyng
To noon of us hir vertuous lyvyng,
That made hem gentil men ycalled be,
And bad us folwen hem in swich degree.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. In her pillow talk with her husband Knight on the meaning of nobility, the Loathly Lady says that virtuous living cannot be bequeathed. So even though our ancestors give us all their heritage, they cannot pass down to us their virtuous living that made them be called noble men.

Ther shul ye seen expres that it no drede is
That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis.
And therfore, leeve housbonde, I thus conclude:
Al were it that myne auncestres were rude,
Yet may the hye God, and so hope I,
Grante me grace to lyven vertuously.
Thanne am I gentil, whan that I bigynne
To lyven vertuously and weyve synne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Towards the end of a long speech to her husband on their wedding night, the Knight’s wife believes she has proved that, despite her ancestors being rude, she may be called "gentil" or noble. She is noble if the high God grants her the grace to live virtuously and abandon sin, the Loathly Lady tells him.

"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.

For God it woot, that children ofte been
Unlyk hir worthy eldres hem bifore;
Bountee comth al of God, nat of the streen
Of which they been engendred and ybore.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. We could be listening here to the Loathly Lady in the Wife of Bath’s tale! Walter has the very same thought as her, that all goodness comes from God and not from a person’s lineage by which they are conceived and born. For often children turn out to unlike their worthy parents and ancestors, he says, declining his nobles’ offer to select a high-born wife for him. This comment is ironic, in view of Walter’s cruel treatment of Griselda later in the story.

A doghter hadde he, fair ynogh to sighte,
And Grisildis this yonge mayden highte.
But for to speke of vertuous beautee,
Thanne was she oon the faireste under sonne;
For povreliche yfostred up was she,
No likerous lust was thurgh hire herte yronne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. When it comes to outer and inner beauty and virtue, Janicula’s daughter Griselda is said to be the fairest of all under the sun. Because she was raised in poverty, the Clerk tells the pilgrims, no wanton lust had run through her heart. Does that mean the rich classes are more prone to lust and lechery?

Wel ofter of the welle than of the tonne
She drank, and for she wolde vertu plese,
She knew wel labour but noon ydel ese.
She knew well labor but no idle ease.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. They say opposites attract and Griselda is certainly the polar opposite of Walter in many ways. She the virtuous woman who knows well the value of work, but not idle leisure, and more often drinks from the well than the wine barrel. He the man who lives a life of pleasure, filling his days with hawking and hunting.

He noght with wantown lookyng of folye
His eyen caste on hire, but in sad wyse
Upon hir chiere he wolde hym ofte avyse,
Commendynge in his herte hir wommanhede,
And eek hir vertu, passynge any wight
Of so yong age, as wel in chiere as dede.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Griselda catches Walter’s eye when he sees her while out hunting. But he doesn’t look at her in any lecherous way, but rather her virtue and womanly qualities in a person of such a young age attract him.

For thogh the peple have no greet insight
In vertu, he considered ful right
Hir bountee, and disposed that he wolde
Wedde hire oonly, if evere he wedde sholde.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. In his tale the Clerk tells the pilgrims that the common people have no great insight into virtue. But Walter the Marquis of Saluzzo obviously has, for when he sees Griselda’s goodness he decides that he will wed only her – if ever he should wed. So is awareness of virtue lost on the commoners, and confined to the nobles?

For though that evere vertuous was she,
She was encressed in swich excellence
Of thewes goode, yset in heigh bountee,
And so discreet and fair of eloquence,
So benigne and so digne of reverence,
And koude so the peples herte embrace,
That ech hire lovede that looked on hir face.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. When you dress virtue in the finest clothing and expensive jewelry, it becomes even more attractive. Now that Griselda has become Walter’s wife, her stock with the people has shot through the roof. While she was always virtuous, she has grown so much in noble goodness and manners and gentleness that each person who looks upon her face loves her.

She seyde, "Lord, al lyth in youre plesaunce.
My child and I, with hertely obeisaunce,
Been youres al, and ye mowe save or spille
Youre owene thyng; werketh after youre wille."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. In one of the tale’s most disturbing passages, Griselda makes no protest when her daughter it to be taken from her by Walter, presumably to be slain. She shockingly tells her husband that she and her children are his property and he may save or kill his own thing. The case of a mother unquestioningly accepting a husband’s evil will towards her children is one of the things that makes the Clerk’s Tale disturbing and uncomfortable reading. Where is her motherly instinct to protect her child? Where is the courage to stand up for what is right? Griselda may be virtuous in many ways, but she lacks the virtue of courage to stand up to Walter’s brutal behavior.
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