Even if the whole earth and sea were turned to gold, they could hardly satisfy the avarice of a woman... You can more easily scratch a diamond with your fingernail than you can by any human ingenuity get a woman to consent to giving any of her savings.

Andreas Capellanus (Capellanus meaning "chaplain") was the 12th-century author of a treatise commonly known as De amore ("About Love") and often known in English somewhat misleadingly as The Art of Courtly Love though its realistic somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love. Little is known of Andreas Capellanus's life but he is presumed to have been a courtier of Marie of Troyes and probably of French origin; he is sometimes known by a French translation of his name André le Chapelain.