So on the tip of his subduing tongue

All kinds of arguments and questions deep,

All replication prompt, and reason strong,

For his advantage still did wake and sleep.

To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,

He had the dialect and different skill,

Catching all passion in his craft of will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Lover's Complaint. Line 120.

The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne,

Th' assay so hard, so sharpe the conquering.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): The Assembly of Fowles. Line 1.