by Schrodinger on February 22nd, 2009
The passage from Chaucer is in the Franklin's tale, the story of Aurelius wooing Dorigen who was married to the knight Arveragus:
"Pacience is an high vertue certayn
For it vanquysheth, as thyse clerks sayn
Thyngs that rigour should never attayn"
I read it when I was a student some ten years ago so the spelling might not be immaculate but, as I recall, that's how it went. To the best of my knowledge, it is the first appearance in print of the common maxim.
by wanttolearn on September 5th, 2008
why don't you just google it?
by Friendo on September 4th, 2008
The proverb has been traced back to 'Piers Plowman' (1377) by William Langland and is similar to the Latin, Maxima enim..patientia virtus (Patience is the greatest virtue) and the French, Patience est une grant vertu. (Patience is a great value.) Some ten years after Langland, Chaucer wrote in 'The Canterbury Tales' (1386) that 'Patience is a high virtue.'
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