"Ye wol," quod he, "myn owene peple deere,
To that I nevere erst thoughte streyne me.
I me rejoysed of my liberte,
That seelde tyme is founde in mariage;
Ther I was free, I moot been in servage."
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Walter is playing hard to get on the matter of taking a wife anytime soon, which his people want for him. He rejoices in his liberty and freedom of single life and is loath to swop it for what he sees as the sertitude of marriage.