For tyme ylost may nought recovered be.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is brief, while mastering skills takes a long time.
This quote emphasizes the contrast between the fleeting nature of life and the extensive time required to acquire meaningful skills and knowledge. It serves as a reminder to value our time, focusing on what truly matters, as our lifespans are limited while our pursuits can be lifelong endeavors.
Themes
LifeWisdomLearningTimeSkills
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to inspire students to continue learning.
More from Geoffrey Chaucer
All quotes βFor in their hearts doth Nature stir them so Then people long on pilgrimage to go And palmers to be seeking foreign strands To distant shrines renowned in sundry lands.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
If gold rusts, what then can iron do?
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
Thus with hir fader for a certeyn space_x000D_ _x000D_ Dwelleth this flour of wyfly pacience,_x000D_ _x000D_ That neither by hir wordes ne hir face_x000D_ _x000D_ Biforn the folk, ne eek in her absence,_x000D_ _x000D_ Ne shewed she that hir was doon offence.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
Ther nis no werkman, whatsoevere he be, That may bothe werke wel and hastily.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
For oute of olde feldys, as men sey,_x000D_ _x000D_ Comyth al this newe corn from yer to yere;_x000D_ _x000D_ And out of olde bokis, in good fey,_x000D_ _x000D_ Comyth al this newe science that men lere.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
Similar quotes
Sleep makes the silence and the terrible fear go by more quickly, helps pass the time, since it's impossible to kill.
Anne FrankRead
Uncertainty that comes from knowledge (knowing what you don't know) is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
Isaac AsimovRead
How many worthy men have we known to survive their own reputation, who have seen and suffered the honor and glory most justly acquired in their youth, extinguished in their own presence?
Michel De MontaigneRead
Though reading and conversation may furnish us with many ideas of men and things, yet it is our own meditation must form our judgment.
Isaac WattsRead
There is no joy for the one who does not bear sadness, there is no sweetness for the one who does not have patience, there is no delight for the one who does not suffer, and there is no relaxation for the one who does not endure fatigue.
Ibn Qayyim Al-JawziyyaRead
When we take the one seat on our meditation cushion we become our own monastery. We create the compassionate space that allows for the arising of all things: sorrows, loneliness, shame, desire, regret, frustration, happiness.
Jack KornfieldRead