Geoffrey of Monmouth (flourished 12th century)
“It is easier for a kite to be made to act like a sparrow-hawk than for a wise man to be fashioned at short notice from a peasant.”
- From Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The History of the Kings of Britain (VI.3), completed in 1136, translated from Latin into English by Lewis Thorpe (Penguin Classics, 1966).
