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Men should make merry while they may.

— John Barbour Disputed

Men suld mak mirrie quhill thay mocht.

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote notes doubts about whether John Barbour really said this.

Source: The Buik of Alexander, Part 2, line 4879; translation from Bartlett Jere Whiting and Helen Wescott Whiting Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968) p. 380.
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by John Barbour

A! Fredome is a noble thing!
Fredome mays man to haiff liking.
Fredome all solace to man giffis,
He levys at es that frely levys!

Na he that ay has levyt fre
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte
The angyr na the wrechyt dome
That is couplyt to foule thyrldome,
Bot gyff he had assayit it.
Than all perquer he suld it wyt,
And suld think fredome mar to prys
Than all the gold in warld that is.

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Notes from Wikiquote

The attribution of this poem to Barbour is considered doubtful.

More quotes by John Barbour

Freedom all solace to man gives:
He lives at ease that freely lives.

Thai eyt it with full gud will
That soucht na nother sals thar-till
Bot appetyt.

Na thar may na man fyr sa covyr
Than low or rek sall it discovyr.

Luff is off sa mekill mycht,
That it all paynys makis lych.

He maid thaim na gud fest perfay
And nocht-forthi yneuch had thai.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Barbour (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.