For hym was levere have at his beddes heed Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophie Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie. But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre.

For hym was levere have at his beddes heed
Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed,
Of Aristotle and his philosophie
Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie.
But al be that he was a philosophre,
Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. The Clerk prefers to spend his money on books and learning instead of rich robes. He is a thoughtful, perceptive man – a philosopher with little gold in his strongbox.

Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes