Por remembrer des ancessours Li fez è li diz è li mours, Deit l'en li livres è li gestes E li estoires lire as festes. - Wace

All things to their decline do tend,
All falls, expires, comes to its end:
Man dies, iron rusts, wood rots away,
Tower sinks, wall falls, rose has its day.
Horse stumbles, cloth wears out apace,
No work of hands leaves lasting trace.

Wit is more than strength! Muscle is good, but craft is better. Skill devises means when strength fails. Cunning and engines bring many matters to a good end, that strength would not venture even to begin.

Tote rien se torne en déclin,
Tot chiet, tot meurt, tot vait à fin:
Hom muert, fer use, fust porrist,
Tur font, mur chiet, rose flaistrist,
Cheval trebusche, drap viésist:
Tot ovre fet od mainz périst.