Top 28 Quotes & Sayings by Marie de France

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a French poet Marie de France.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
Marie de France

Marie de France was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of King Henry II of England. Virtually nothing is known of her life; both her given name and its geographical specification come from her manuscripts. However, one written description of her work and popularity from her own era still exists. She is considered by scholars to be the first woman known to write francophone verse.

I love no woman, for love is a serious business, not a jest.
He who would tell divers tales must know how to vary the tune.
The fool shouts loudly, thinking to impress the world. — © Marie de France
The fool shouts loudly, thinking to impress the world.
Out of five hundred who speak glibly of love, not one can spell the first letter of his name.
But sweetly and discreetly love passes from person to person, from heart to heart, or it is nothing worth.
Whosoever counts these Lays as fable, may be assured that I am not of his mind.
Great were the lamentation and the cry when the news of this mischance was noised about the city. Such a tumult of mourning was never before heard, for the whole city was moved.
The dead and past stories that I have told again in divers fashions, are not set down without authority.
There are divers men who make a great show of loyalty, and pretend to such discretion in the hidden things they hear, that at the end folk come to put faith in them.
For above all things Love means sweetness, and truth, and measure; yea, loyalty to the loved one and to your word. And because of this I dare not meddle with so high a matter.
For what the lover would, that would the beloved; what she would ask of him that should he go before to grant. Without accord such as this, love is but a bond and a constraint.
Be sure that you speak with unfeigned lips.
Fairest and dearest, your wrath and anger are more heavy than I can bear; but learn that I cannot tell what you wish me to say without sinning against my honour too grievously.
Now will I rehearse before you a very ancient Breton Lay. As the tale was told to me, so, in turn, will I tell it over again, to the best of my art and knowledge. Hearken now to my story, its why and its reason.
If one of two lovers is loyal, and the other jealous and false, how may their friendship last, for Love is slain!
The rich are never threatened by the poor - they do not notice them.
Whoever wants to tell a variety of stories ought to have a variety of beginnings.
You have to endure what you can't change.
Desire can blind us to the hazards of our enterprises.
But Fortune, who never forgets her duty, turns her wheel suddenly.
We love what we should scorn if we were wiser.
In times gone by there lived a Count of Ponthieu, who loved chivalry and the pleasures of the world beyond measure, and moreover was a stout knight and a gallant gentleman
Man created God in his image: intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent. — © Marie de France
Man created God in his image: intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent.
Being too consumed in fear all the time will result in poor quality of life
A bully is not reasonable - he is persuaded only by threats.
Whoever believes in a man is very foolish.
Whoever has received knowledge and eloquence in speech from God should not be silent or secretive but demonstrate it willingly. When a great good is widely heard of, then, and only then, does it bloom, and when that good is praised by man, it has spread its blossoms.
By men's words we know them.
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