Though clerkes preise wommen but a lite,
Ther kan no man in humblesse hym acquite
As womman kan, ne kan been half so trewe
As wommen been, but it be falle of newe.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Clerk’s Tale. Though clerks give little praise to women, the Clerk says that no man can match a woman in humbleness or be half so true as a woman.