For tyme ylost may nought recovered be.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is fleeting, but acquiring skills takes a long time.
Geoffrey Chaucer reflects on the brevity of life contrasted with the extensive time required to master any craft or skill. This quote emphasizes the importance of seizing opportunities and the urgency of learning, as life is limited while the journey of education and personal development is ongoing and often slow.
Themes
LifeEducationLearningCraftSkillsBrevity
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech, one might use this quote to inspire students about the importance of continual 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
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