The Faerie Queene Morality and Ethics Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Book, canto, stanza

Quote #1

Virtue gives her selfe light, through darkness for to wade. (I.i.13)

This is one of the first things we hear from Redcrosse. While it sounds like he has a pretty good plan of action, one crucial thing is missing: Redcrosse needs a little help from his friends.

Quote #2

Ay me, how many perils doe enfold/ The righteous man, to make him daily fall? (I.viii.1)

This is our narrator lamenting the difficulties that inevitably seem to befall even the best of us. Morality may be important, but it isn't easy.

Quote #3

Behold the image of mortalitie,/ And feeble nature cloth'd with fleshly tyre,/ When raging passion with fierce tyrannie/ Robs reason of her due regalitie. (II.i.57)

When Guyon and the Palmer come upon the deeply mournful sight of Amavia dying with her baby and husband next to her, Guyon immediately attributes their suffering to their past moral transgression.