Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342-1400)
“He who accepts his poverty unhurt
I’d say is rich although he lacked a shirt,
But truly poor are they who whine and fret
And covet what they cannot hope to get.
And he that, having nothing, covets not,
Is rich, though you may think he is a sot.”
- From The Canterbury Tales (The Wife of Bath’s Tale) by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated to modern English by Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics, 2003).
