Chretien De Troyes Quotes

One cannot love with the eyes alone.

Come, let me know whether thou art a
creature of good or not.' And he replied: `I am a man.

My good sir, is she your daughter then?'
'Yes, but don't pay any attention to what she says,' said the lord. 'She's a child - a silly, foolish thing.'
'Indeed,' said my lord Gawain, 'then I'd be very ill-mannered not to do what she wants.

[G]enerosity ... is the mistress and queen that gives lustre to every virtue, as it is not hard to prove. Where could one find a man, however powerful and rich, who isn't blamed if he is mean? And who, though not appreciated for his many other qualities, doesn't earn praise by his generosity? Liberality on its own makes a worthy man; and that can't be achieved by high birth, courtliness, wisdom, nobility, wealth, strength, chivalry, boldness, authority, beauty, or anything else. But just as the rose is more lovely than any other flower when it opens fresh and new, so where liberality appears it surpasses all other virtues and increases five hundred times the qualities it finds in a worthy, upright man.

When it hurts and destroys its follower, Love is worse than Hatred.

The joy of late love is like green firewood when set aflame, for the longer the wait in lighting, the greater heat it yields and the longer its force lasts ...

He who wants to do more than he is able must admit defeat or retire.

The most delightful and choicest pleasure is that which is hinted at, but never told.