--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The life so short, the crafts so long to…" description: "\"The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.\" — Geoffrey Chaucer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg" --- # The life so short, the crafts so long to learn. ![“The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.” quote by Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg) > “The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.” [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is brief, yet mastering a craft demands extensive time and effort. **In simple terms:** Learning takes long, but life is short. Key Takeaway Dedicate time wisely to skill development. Themes learning time craftsmanship Mood inspirational reflective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - apprenticeship - education - career training - personal projects Key Concepts skill acquisition lifelong learning Questions to Reflect On - What skill are you willing to invest years in? - How do you balance learning with living? A Different Perspective Mastery may require sacrifices that conflict with other life goals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Crafts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crafts/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ## Related quotes > [I think as long as you learn from your mistakes, and don't make them over and over again, you're on the right path.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-kardashian/i-think-as-long-as-you-learn-from-your-mistakes-and-don-t-make-them/) [Kim Kardashian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-kardashian/) > [It's okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lele-pons/it-s-okay-to-make-mistakes-as-long-as-you-learn-from-them/) [Lele Pons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lele-pons/) > [The life so short, the craft so long to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hippocrates/the-life-so-short-the-craft-so-long-to-learn/) [Hippocrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hippocrates/) > [It is hard to imagine 10 years is not quite long enough to learn a lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-rogers/it-is-hard-to-imagine-10-years-is-not-quite-long-enough-to-learn-a/) [Mike Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-rogers/) > [I've figured out my learning curve. I can look at something and somehow know exactly how long it will take for me to learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mayer/i-ve-figured-out-my-learning-curve-i-can-look-at-something-and/) [John Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mayer/) > [I like libraries. It's a comfort that knowledge can be save for so long. That what we learn can be passed on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackson-pearce/i-like-libraries-it-s-a-comfort-that-knowledge-can-be-save-for-so/) [Jackson Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackson-pearce/) > [“The tragedy of being old is you can no longer apply what has taken you so long to learn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-carroll/the-tragedy-of-being-old-is-you-can-no-longer-apply-what-has-taken/) [Jonathan Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-carroll/) > [Metamorphosis is important as long as we learn from everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pooja-bhatt/metamorphosis-is-important-as-long-as-we-learn-from-everything/) [Pooja Bhatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pooja-bhatt/) > [I might have lived long enough to learn all this in the long haul, but I would have been just another soul taking up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-rawls/i-might-have-lived-long-enough-to-learn-all-this-in-the-long-haul-but/) [Lou Rawls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-rawls/) > [I let you miss me sometimes but my absence should not be so long that you learn to live without me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-let-you-miss-me-sometimes-but-my-absence-should-not-be-so-long-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It took me so long to learn to love myself..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jade/it-took-me-so-long-to-learn-to-love-myself/) [Jade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jade/) > [A lifetime isn't long enough to learn how to make films.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abel-ferrara/a-lifetime-isn-t-long-enough-to-learn-how-to-make-films/) [Abel Ferrara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abel-ferrara/) > [If you mess up, only remember your mistake long enough to learn from it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-hunt/if-you-mess-up-only-remember-your-mistake-long-enough-to-learn-from-it/) Matt Hunt > [“So long as we learn it doesn’t matter who teaches us, does it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-r-braithwaite/so-long-as-we-learn-it-doesn-t-matter-who-teaches-us-does-it/) [E.R. Braithwaite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-r-braithwaite/) > [Man, you learn so much just like with anything else. If you do something long enough, you learn. You make mistakes. You run into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-ragan/man-you-learn-so-much-just-like-with-anything-else-if-you-do/) [Chuck Ragan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-ragan/) ## More by Geoffrey Chaucer > [Drunkenness is the very sepulcher Of man's wit and his discretion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/drunkenness-is-the-very-sepulcher-of-man-s-wit-and-his-discretion/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [Whoso will pray, he must fast and be clean, And fat his soul, and make his body lean.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/whoso-will-pray-he-must-fast-and-be-clean-and-fat-his-soul-and-make/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [“The man who has no wife is no cuckold.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/the-man-who-has-no-wife-is-no-cuckold/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [One eare it heard, at the other out it went.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/one-eare-it-heard-at-the-other-out-it-went/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [The handsome gifts that fate and nature lend us Most often are the very ones that end us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/the-handsome-gifts-that-fate-and-nature-lend-us-most-often-are-the/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [Patience is a conquering virtue. 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We are prisoners and shall always be. Fortune has given us this adversity, Some wicked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/for-god-s-love-take-things-patiently-have-sense-think-we-are/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/whan-that-aprill-with-his-shoures-soote-the-droghte-of-march-hath/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) > [Forbid us something, and that thing we desire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/forbid-us-something-and-that-thing-we-desire/) [Geoffrey Chaucer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) [Explore all 217 Geoffrey Chaucer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/) ## More Crafts quotes > [She spent hours drawing on her own, trying to perfect her craft. 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I do - writing plays - is that a poll is not taken before you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-wasserstein/one-of-the-things-about-what-i-do-writing-plays-is-that-a-poll-is-not/) [Wendy Wasserstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-wasserstein/) > [Look, I come from vaudeville, I come from burlesque, I come from heartaches, I come from sadness, I come from gladness, I come from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mickey-rooney/look-i-come-from-vaudeville-i-come-from-burlesque-i-come-from/) [Mickey Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mickey-rooney/) > [All the craft skills that I have, I feel like I developed and honed in drama school. It's the most important thing for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-holland/all-the-craft-skills-that-i-have-i-feel-like-i-developed-and-honed-in/) [Andre Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-holland/) > [A first novel of astonishing force, craft and beauty, The Headmaster's Wager conjures up a dizzyingly evocative wartime Saigon in the story of Percival…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janice-y-k-lee-2/a-first-novel-of-astonishing-force-craft-and-beauty-the-headmaster-s/) Janice Y. K. Lee > [This element of surprise or mystery - the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called - is of great importance in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-forster/this-element-of-surprise-or-mystery-the-detective-element-as-it-is/) [E. M. Forster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-forster/) > [The craft's occupants clutched their armrests, and more than one of them closed their eyes. But not Artemis. He couldn't. There was something morbidly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eoin-colfer/the-craft-s-occupants-clutched-their-armrests-and-more-than-one-of/) [Eoin Colfer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eoin-colfer/) > [I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-always-try-to-write-on-the-principle-of-the-iceberg-there-is-seven/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) [Browse all 1,453 Crafts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crafts/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Geoffrey Chaucer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to-learn/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Crafts" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to-learn/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/feb/geoffrey-chaucer-1677_crafts_the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to_1276485.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.” — Geoffrey Chaucer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Geoffrey Chaucer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-chaucer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The life so short, the crafts...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to-learn/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-chaucer/the-life-so-short-the-crafts-so-long-to-learn/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```