For tyme ylost may nought recovered be.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
But manly set the world on sixe and sevene; And, if thou deye a martir, go to hevene.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that one should confront life boldly and be ready to face death with valor.
In this quote, Chaucer conveys the idea that one must live life fearlessly and embrace the realities of existence, including the inevitability of death. The metaphor of 'setting the world on sixe and sevene' implies a state of uncertainty or precariousness, urging individuals to navigate through life's challenges with courage, knowing that martyrdom, or dying for a cause, leads to a heavenly reward.
In practice
In a motivational speech about facing fears and challenges.
For tyme ylost may nought recovered be.
For 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.
If gold rusts, what then can iron do?
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.
Ther nis no werkman, whatsoevere he be, That may bothe werke wel and hastily.
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.
When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities. There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy. Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.
Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
It is a time when oneβs spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death. It is a time when one is filled with vague longings; when one dreams of flight to peaceful islands in the remote solitudes of the sea, or folds his hands and says, What is the use of struggling, and toiling and worrying any more? let us give it all up.
It is enough for me to hear someone talk sincerely about ideals, about the future, about philosophy, to hear him say βwe" with a certain inflection of assurance, to hear him invoke "others" and regard himself as their interpreter - for me to consider him my enemy.
Cannot the nation that has absorbed ten million foreigners into its political life without catastrophe absorb ten million Negro Americans into that same political life at less cost than their unjust and illegal exclusion will involve?
Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make the attempt. That's morality, that's religion, that's art, that's life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.