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William Dunbar Quotes

d. 1520 Scotland

William Dunbar (c. 1460 – c. 1520) was a makar or Scottish Chaucerian poet. He was taken as a model by those writers of the Scottish Renaissance who followed Hugh MacDiarmid's slogan "Dunbar – not Burns!"

Scotland
Poets

Random William Dunbar quote

10 quotes

London, thou art the flour of cities all!

Aye [always] fairest feathers have the farthest fowls.

Man, pleis thy makar and be mirry,
And sett not by this warld a chirry.

My deathe chasis my lyfe so besalie
That wery is my goist to fle so fast.

All wemen of us suld haif honoring,
Service and luve, aboif all uthir thing.

Ay farest faderis hes farrest fowlis.
Aye fairest feathers have the farthest fowls.

All luve is lost bot upone God allone.

He hes done peteouslie devour,
The noble Chawcer of makaris flouir,
The Monk of Bery, and Gower, all thré;
Timor mortis conturbat me.

The Lament for the Makars (1505)

So nixt to simmer, winter bein,
Nixt eftir comfort, cairis kein,
Nixt derk midnicht the mirthful morrow;
Nixt eftir joy ay cumis sorow.
So is this warld, and ay hes bein.

Strong be thy wallis that about the standis;
Wise be the people that within the dwellis;
Fresh is thy ryver with his lusty strandis;
Blith be thy chirches, wele sownyng be thy bellis;
Riche be thy merchauntis in substance that excellis
Fair be thy wives, right lovesom, white and small;
Clere be thy virgyns, lusty under kellis:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.

Misattributed

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Dunbar (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.