John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
8 Geoffrey Chauer 1340-1400 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 8 |
| AUTHOR: | Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400) |
| QUOTATION: | 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. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 295. |