Quote#Wisdom
So purely white they were
Quote byEdmund Spenser · 1552–1599
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Prothalamion (1596), Line 46.
English (original)
So purely white they were, That even the gentle streame, the which them bare, Seem’d foule to them, and bad his billowes spare To wet their silken feathers, least they might Soyle their fair plumes with water not so fayre, And mar their beauties bright, That shone as heavens light.
— Edmund Spenser
More from Edmund Spenser
I was promised on a time To have reason for my rhyme; From that time unto this season, I received nor rhyme nor reason.
I hate the day, because it lendeth light To see all things, but not my love to see.
I trow that countenance cannot lie, Whose thoughts are legible in the eie.
So love is Lord of all the world by right.
Death slue not him, but he made death his ladder to the skies.
Uncouthe, unkiste, sayde the olde famous poete Chaucer.