Don Quixote

It is not that the Spanish idioms are so utterly unmanageable, or that the untranslatable words, numerous enough no doubt, are so superabundant, but rather that the sententious terseness to which the humour of the book owes its flavour is peculiar to Spanish, and can at best be only distantly imitated in any other tongue.

It is not a question of caviare to the general, or, if it is, the fault rests with him who makes so.

fidelity to the method is as much a part of the translator’s duty as fidelity to the matter.

The method by which Cervantes won the ear of the Spanish people ought, mutatis mutandis, to be equally effective with the great majority of English readers.

the translator who uses the simplest and plainest everyday language will almost always be the one who approaches nearest to the original.

It is only natural, therefore, that the biographers of Cervantes, forced to make brick without straw, should have recourse largely to conjecture, and that conjecture should in some instances come by degrees to take the place of established fact.

A man who could look back upon an ancestry of genuine knights-errant extending from well-nigh the time of Pelayo to the siege of Granada was likely to have a strong feeling on the subject of the sham chivalry of the romances.

The owner of Rodrigo, however, was more easily satisfied; ransom was accepted in his case, and it was arranged between the brothers that he should return to Spain and procure a vessel in which he was to come back to Algiers and take off Miguel and as many of their comrades as possible.

When Cervantes saw what had befallen them, he charged his companions to lay all the blame upon him, and as they were being bound he declared aloud that the whole plot was of his contriving, and that nobody else had any share in it.

Cervantes by force of character, by his self-devotion, by his untiring energy and his exertions to lighten the lot of his companions in misery, had endeared himself to all, and become the leading spirit in the captive colony, and, incredible as it may seem, jealousy of his influence and the esteem in which he was held, moved this man to compass his destruction by a cruel death.

The sole foundation for all this is that in 1605 there certainly was living in the family of Cervantes a Doña Isabel de Saavedra, who is described in an official document as his natural daughter, and then twenty years of age.

He was more successful in a literary contest at Saragossa in 1595 in honour of the canonisation of St. Jacinto, when his composition won the first prize, three silver spoons.

The old soldier of the Spanish Salamis was bent on being the Aeschylus of Spain.

At sixty-eight he was as full of life and hope and plans for the future as a boy of eighteen.

it is like the irritation of a man stung by a mosquito in the dark.

He who could take Cervantes’ distresses together with his apparatus for enduring them would not make so bad a bargain, perhaps, as far as happiness in life is concerned.

Si monumentum quoeris, circumspice.

To try to think of a Don Quixote without Sancho Panza is like trying to think of a one-bladed pair of scissors.

he is an unconscious Mephistopheles, always unwittingly making mockery of his master’s aspirations, always exposing the fallacy of his ideas by some unintentional ad absurdum, always bringing him back to the world of fact and commonplace by force of sheer stolidity.

it is his madness makes him virtuous

Sancho stands before us as he might in a character portrait by Velazquez

the incongruity of Sancho in all his ways, words, and works, with the ideas and aims of his master

Cervantes always leaves you alone with Don Quixote and Sancho

there is no book richer in individualised character

the strength of which lies in the perception of the incongruous

Under my cloak I kill the king

I found none greater than the making of this Preface thou art now reading

The remedy for this is very simple: You have only to look out for some book that quotes them all, from A to Z as you say yourself, and then insert the very same alphabet in your book

It has only to avail itself of truth to nature in its composition, and the more perfect the imitation the better the work will be

Win the attention of the wise, And give the thinker food for thought; Whoso indites frivolities, Will but by simpletons be sought

For fooleries preserved in print Are perpetuity of shame

If that thy roof be made of glass, It shows small wit to pick up stones To pelt the people as they pass

He was not at all easy about the wounds which Don Belianis gave and took, because it seemed to him that, great as were the surgeons who had cured him, he must have had his face and body covered all over with seams and scars

His fancy grew full of what he used to read about in his books, enchantments, quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, agonies, and all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his mind that the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read of was true

a knight-errant without love was like a tree without leaves or fruit, or a body without a soul.

he considered, he described accurately his origin and country, and did honour to it in taking his surname from it.

he believed lay the essence of adventures.

everything he saw or imagined seemed to him to be and to happen after the fashion of what he read of,

the necessity of adapting that old ballad of Lancelot to the present occasion has given you the knowledge of my name altogether prematurely.

everyone is the son of his works

if he were again attacked, and felt himself to be dubbed knight, he would not, he thought, leave a soul alive in the castle, except such as out of respect he might spare at his bidding

there may be Haldudos knights

I have only to command, and he will obey me; and as he has sworn to me by the order of knighthood which he has received, I leave him free, and I guarantee the payment

He when he found himself alone made another effort to rise; but if he was unable when whole and sound, how was he to rise after having been thrashed and well-nigh knocked to pieces?

this was a regular knight-errant’s mishap, and entirely, he considered, the fault of his horse

it is as true as that I was born to die, that these accursed books of chivalry he has, and has got into the way of reading so constantly, have upset his reason

He robbed him of a great deal of his natural force, and so do all those who try to turn books written in verse into another language

His book has some good invention in it, it presents us with something but brings nothing to a conclusion

let them be preserved as the richest treasures of poetry that Spain possesses

the innocent suffer for the guilty

many go for wool and come back shorn

ere they shear me I shall have plucked away and stripped off the beards of all who dare to touch only the tip of a hair of mine

things and chances fall to the lot of such knights in ways so unexampled and unexpected

knights-errant are not permitted to complain of any wound, even though their bowels be coming out through it

mother is history, rival of time, storehouse of deeds, witness for the past, example and counsel for the present, and warning for the future

adventures of islands, but of cross-roads, in which nothing is got except a broken head or an ear the less

greater secrets I mean to teach thee and greater favours to bestow upon thee

if an island should fail, there is the kingdom of Denmark, or of Sobradisa, which will fit thee as a ring fits the finger

no history can be bad so long as it is true

it is the glory of knights-errant to go without eating for a month, and even when they do eat, that it should be of what comes first to hand

it is plain too that, wandering as they did the most part of their lives through woods and wilds and without a cook, their most usual fare would be rustic viands

it levels all

what I eat in my corner without form or fuss has much more relish for me, even though it be bread and onions, than the turkeys of those other tables where I am forced to chew slowly, drink little, wipe my mouth every minute, and cannot sneeze or cough if I want

him who humbleth himself God exalteth

Fraud, deceit, or malice had then not yet mingled with truth and sincerity

Justice held her ground, undisturbed and unassailed by the efforts of favour and of interest, that now so much impair, pervert, and beset her

the order of knights-errant was instituted, to defend maidens, to protect widows and to succour the orphans and the needy

If I ever quit the mountains, ’Twill be in a friar’s gown

parents are not to settle children in life against their will.

she flings him from her like a catapult.

her affability and her beauty draw on the hearts of those that associate with her to love her and to court her, but her scorn and her frankness bring them to the brink of despair;

easy life, enjoyment, and repose were invented for soft courtiers, but toil, unrest, and arms were invented and made for those alone whom the world calls knights-errant,

churchmen in peace and quiet pray to Heaven for the welfare of the world, but we soldiers and knights carry into effect what they pray for, defending it with the might of our arms

it is impossible that there could be a knight-errant without a lady, because to such it is as natural and proper to be in love as to the heavens to have stars:

He loved deeply, he was hated; he adored, he was scorned; he wooed a wild beast, he pleaded with marble, he pursued the wind, he cried to the wilderness, he served ingratitude, and for reward was made the prey of death

Disdain hath power to kill, and patience dies Slain by suspicion, be it false or true

Long absence makes of life a dreary void

I am a fire afar off, a sword laid aside

Heaven has made me, so you say, beautiful, and so much so that in spite of yourselves my beauty leads you to love me

If I had encouraged him, I should be false; if I had gratified him, I should have acted against my own better resolution and purpose

Let him who calls me wild beast and basilisk, leave me alone as something noxious and evil

I neither love nor hate anyone

I count for a hundred

Fortune always leaves a door open in adversity in order to bring relief to it,

Wounds received in battle confer honour instead of taking it away;

there is no recollection which time does not put an end to, and no pain which death does not remove.

The elegance of her shape, to be sure, made up for all her defects;

he drew her portrait in his imagination with the same features and in the same style as that which he had seen in his books of the other princesses who, smitten by love, came with all the adornments that are here set down, to see the sorely wounded knight;

I hate keeping things long, and I don’t want them to grow rotten with me from over-keeping.

If they don’t let themselves be seen, they let themselves be felt,

as they are invisible and visionary we shall find no one on whom to avenge ourselves, do what we may

the excellent and ancient usage of knights-errant was not going to be violated by him, nor should the squires of such as were yet to come into the world ever complain of him or reproach him with breaking so just a privilege.

they were fellows who would not have cared two farthings for Don Quixote, even had he been really one of the knights-errant of the Round Table.

the best and wisest thing, according to my small wits, would be for us to return home, now that it is harvest-time, and attend to our business, and give over wandering from Zeca to Mecca and from pail to bucket, as the saying is.

the day will come when thou shalt see with thine own eyes what an honourable thing it is to wander in the pursuit of this calling

it is impossible for good or evil to last for ever; and hence it follows that the evil having lasted long, the good must be now nigh at hand

a mouth without teeth is like a mill without a millstone, and a tooth is much more to be prized than a diamond

the lance has never blunted the pen, nor the pen the lance

I am he for whom perils, mighty achievements, and valiant deeds are reserved; I am, I say again, he who is to revive the Knights of the Round Table, the Twelve of France and the Nine Worthies

fear has sharp eyes, and sees things underground, much more above in heavens

the dead to the grave and the living to the loaf

I will act as I think most consistent with my character

What was, was; and may the good that is to come be for all, and the evil for him who goes to look for it

Where one door shuts, another opens

next to parents, masters are to be respected as though they were parents

he loves thee well that makes thee weep

for something is better than nothing

it is the part of noble and generous hearts not to attach importance to trifles

some there be tracing and deriving their descent from kings and princes, whom time has reduced little by little until they end in a point like a pyramid upside down; and others who spring from the common herd and go on rising step by step until they come to be great lords

Never ask as a favour what thou canst take by force

A clear escape is better than good men’s prayers

here is a case for the exercise of my office, to put down force and to succour and help the wretched

Justice, which is the king himself, is not using force or doing wrong to such persons, but punishing them for their crimes.

for there is nothing worse than singing under suffering.

he who sings once weeps all his life.

But God is great; patience—there, that’s enough of it.

misfortune always persecutes good wit.

To be grateful for benefits received is the part of persons of good birth, and one of the sins most offensive to God is ingratitude;

it is not fitting that honest men should be the instruments of punishment to others, they being therein no way concerned.

to do good to boors is to throw water into the sea.

to retire is not to flee, and there is no wisdom in waiting when danger outweighs hope

it is the part of wise men to preserve themselves to-day for to-morrow, and not risk all in one day

the wicked are always ungrateful, and necessity leads to evildoing

immediate advantage overcomes all considerations of the future

if we find him, and he happens to be the owner of the money, it is plain I must restore it; it would be better, therefore, that without taking this needless trouble, I should keep possession of it until in some other less meddlesome and officious way the real owner may be discovered

if we do not see him, the strong suspicion we have as to his being the owner makes us as guilty as if he were so

he was a graceful and gracious youth, and in his courteous and polished language showed himself to be of good birth and courtly breeding

for the gifts of fortune can do little to relieve reverses sent by Heaven.

for though they enforced silence upon our tongues they could not impose it upon our pens, which can make known the heart’s secrets to a loved one more freely than tongues

what I mean is that after Don Fernando had enjoyed this peasant girl his passion subsided and his eagerness cooled, and if at first he feigned a wish to absent himself in order to cure his love, he was now in reality anxious to go to avoid keeping his promise.

I cannot get rid of the idea, nor will anyone in the world remove it, or make me think otherwise—and he would be a blockhead who would hold or believe anything else than that that arrant knave Master Elisabad made free with Queen Madasima.

for I understand them better than all the world that profess them.

the famous Amadis of Gaul was one of the most perfect knights-errant—I am wrong to say he was one; he stood alone, the first, the only one, the lord of all that were in the world in his time.

when a painter desires to become famous in his art he endeavours to copy the originals of the rarest painters that he knows; and the same rule holds good for all the most important crafts and callings that serve to adorn a state;

the knight-errant who shall imitate him most closely will come nearest to reaching the perfection of chivalry.

the thing is to turn crazy without any provocation, and let my lady know, if I do this in the dry, what I would do in the moist;

no thanks to a knight-errant for going mad when he has cause; the thing is to turn crazy without any provocation,

all things belonging to knights-errant seem to be illusions and nonsense and ravings, and to go always by contraries?

there is always a swarm of enchanters in attendance upon us that change and alter everything with us, and turn things as they please, and according as they are disposed to aid or destroy us;

two things alone beyond all others are incentives to love, and these are great beauty and a good name, and these two things are to be found in Dulcinea in the highest degree,

I picture her in my imagination as I would have her to be, as well in beauty as in condition;

for all I want with Dulcinea del Toboso she is just as good as the most exalted princess on earth.

for with evil fortune like his anything might be apprehended.

I have such a bad one that I often forget my own name;

surely it will run as if it was in print.

Everything is needed for the calling I follow,

I should like thee, I say, to see me stripped to the skin and performing a dozen or two of insanities, which I can get done in less than half an hour;

for I will try not to go far from this neighbourhood, and I will even take care to mount the highest of these rocks to see if I can discover thee returning;

these will serve thee, after the fashion of the clue in the labyrinth of Theseus, as marks and signs for finding me on thy return.

Long live the memory of Amadis and let him be imitated so far as is possible by Don Quixote of La Mancha,

if he did not achieve great things, he died in attempting them;

for those made in notebooks were never accepted or honoured.

it could be taken down from him wherever and whenever they liked.

since it did not in any way hurt his conscience it would be better to leave him in it,

because it will be easier for him as he is more valiant than lettered.

If it be, sirs, that you are here with the same design as others have come with, before you proceed with your wise arguments, I entreat you to hear the story of my countless misfortunes, for perhaps when you have heard it you will spare yourselves the trouble you would take in offering consolation to grief that is beyond the reach of it.

when misfortunes spring from the stars, descending from on high they fall upon us with such fury and violence that no power on earth can check their course nor human device stay their coming.

What must I do to find a remedy? Die. What is the lure for love when coy and strange? Change. What, if all fail, will cure the heart of sadness? Madness. If that be so, it is but folly To seek a cure for melancholy: Ask where it lies; the answer saith In Change, in Madness, or in Death.

Friendship, return to us, or force the cheat That wears it now, thy livery to restore, By aid whereof sincerity is slain.

If thou wilt not unmask thy counterfeit, This earth will be the prey of strife once more, As when primæval discord held its reign.

But who is there in the world that can boast of having fathomed or understood the wavering mind and unstable nature of a woman? Of a truth no one.

sudden pain is soon over, but that which is protracted by tortures is ever slaying without ending life.

She by her fickleness strove to make my ruin irretrievable; I will strive to gratify her wishes by seeking destruction;

for to them the impossibility of being consoled is itself a consolation, while to me it is the cause of greater sorrows and sufferings

feeble love, little reflection, great ambition, and a craving for rank, had made her forget the words with which she had deceived me

I have no wish for health without Luscinda; and since it is her pleasure to be another’s, when she is or should be mine, let it be mine to be a prey to misery when I might have enjoyed happiness.

the younger heir to I know not what, unless it be the treachery of Vellido and the falsehood of Ganelon.

I was the mirror in which they beheld themselves, the staff of their old age, and the object in which, with submission to Heaven, all their wishes centred,

music soothes the troubled mind and relieves weariness of spirit.

I am your vassal, but I am not your slave; your nobility neither has nor should have any right to dishonour or degrade my humble birth;

if fortune had left her any blessing it was courage to bear whatever calamity might fall upon her,

one evil calls up another and the end of one misfortune is apt to be the beginning of one still greater,

fortune does not always supply a remedy in cases of difficulty

I had rather banish myself from their sight for ever than look them in the face with the reflection that they beheld mine stripped of that purity they had a right to expect in me

fate would not rid me of it, contenting itself with robbing me of my reason, perhaps to preserve me for the good fortune I have had in meeting you

I swear to you by the faith of a gentleman and a Christian not to desert you until I see you in possession of Don Fernando

in delay there is apt to be danger

What is it to me if my vassals are blacks? What more have I to do than make a cargo of them and carry them to Spain, where I can sell them and get ready money for them

It only concerns them to aid them as persons in need of help, having regard to their sufferings and not to their rascalities.

She fights in me and conquers in me, and I live and breathe in her, and owe my life and being to her.

for the pitcher goes so often to the well—I need say no more to thee.

and if the truth is to be told, I like them both; though I have never seen the lady Dulcinea.

a sparrow in the hand is better than a vulture on the wing

he who has the good to his hand and chooses the bad, that the good he complains of may not come to him

there is no clown who will keep his word if he finds it will not suit him to keep it

we squires to knights-errant have to bear a great deal of hunger and hard fortune, and even other things more easily felt than told

if you ever meet me again, though you may see them cutting me to pieces, give me no aid or succour, but leave me to my misfortune

friends’ houses ought not to be visited after marriage with the same frequency as in their masters’ bachelor days

a married man’s honour is a thing of such delicacy that it is held liable to injury from brothers, much more from friends

every married man should have some friend who would point out to him any negligence he might be guilty of in his conduct

though his integrity and reputation might bridle slanderous tongues, still he was unwilling to hazard either his own good name or that of his friend

I am the most discontented and dissatisfied man in the whole world; for, I know not how long since, I have been harassed and oppressed by a desire so strange and so unusual

I would confide it to thy safe keeping, feeling sure that by this means, and by thy readiness as a true friend to afford me relief, I shall soon find myself freed from the distress it causes me

a woman is virtuous only in proportion as she is or is not tempted

she alone is strong who does not yield to the promises, gifts, tears, and importunities of earnest lovers

I do not therefore hold her who is virtuous through fear or want of opportunity in the same estimation as her who comes out of temptation and trial with a crown of victory

if she remains intact she cannot rise to a higher value than she now possesses; and if she give way and be unable to resist, bethink thee now how thou wilt be deprived of her

Remember there is no jewel in the world so precious as a chaste and virtuous woman, and that the whole honour of women consists in reputation

he must not put before her the mire of the gifts and attentions of persevering lovers, because perhaps—and even without a perhaps—she may not have sufficient virtue and natural strength in herself to pass through and tread under foot these impediments

A virtuous woman, too, is like a mirror, of clear shining crystal, liable to be tarnished and dimmed by every breath that touches it. She must be treated as relics are; adored, not touched.

Breaking is an easy matter, And it’s folly to expose What you cannot mend to blows; What you can’t make whole to shatter.

as the pain of the foot or any member of the body is felt by the whole body, because all is one flesh, as the head feels the hurt to the ankle without having caused it, so the husband, being one with her, shares the dishonour of the wife

for he being the angel of darkness transforms himself into an angel of light, and, under cover of a fair seeming, discloses himself at length, and effects his purpose if at the beginning his wiles are not discovered.

Unhappy, shortsighted Anselmo, what art thou doing, what art thou plotting, what art thou devising? Bethink thee thou art working against thyself, plotting thine own dishonour, devising thine own ruin.

If, then, the mine of her honour, beauty, virtue, and modesty yields thee without labour all the wealth it contains and thou canst wish for, why wilt thou dig the earth in search of fresh veins, of new unknown treasure, risking the collapse of all, since it but rests on the feeble props of her weak nature?

A clear proof to us that the passion of love is to be conquered only by flying from it, and that no one should engage in a struggle with an enemy so mighty; for divine strength is needed to overcome his human power.

Anselmo was completely satisfied by the words of Lothario, and believed them as fully as if they had been spoken by an oracle; nevertheless he begged of him not to relinquish the undertaking, were it but for the sake of curiosity and amusement;

for when a lover praises his lady’s beauty, and charges her with cruelty, he casts no imputation upon her fair name; at any rate, all I can say is that yesterday I made a sonnet on the ingratitude of this Chloris, which goes thus:

Anselmo praised this second sonnet too, as he had praised the first; and so he went on adding link after link to the chain with which he was binding himself and making his dishonour secure; for when Lothario was doing most to dishonour him he told him he was most honoured; and thus each step that Camilla descended towards the depths of her abasement, she mounted, in his opinion, towards the summit of virtue and fair fame.

love, as I have heard say, sometimes flies and sometimes walks; with this one it runs, with that it moves slowly; some it cools, others it burns; some it wounds, others it slays

for love has no better agent for carrying out his designs than opportunity; and of opportunity he avails himself in all his feats, especially at the outset

the sins of mistresses entail this mischief among others; they make themselves the slaves of their own servants, and are obliged to hide their laxities and depravities

for this further penalty the erring woman’s sin brings with it, that her honour is distrusted even by him to whose overtures and persuasions she has yielded

as woman has by nature a nimbler wit than man for good and for evil, though it is apt to fail when she sets herself deliberately to reason

there is nothing to take care of except to answer me what I shall ask you

Pure I came to him whom Heaven bestowed upon me, pure I shall leave him; and at the worst bathed in my own chaste blood and in the foul blood of the falsest friend that friendship ever saw in the world

He himself, persuaded he was conducting the instrument of his glory, led home by the hand of him who had been the utter destruction of his good name

the guilt which had been until then so skilfully concealed was published abroad, and Anselmo paid with his life the penalty of his ill-advised curiosity

he became the author of his own dishonour, while he believed he was insuring his happiness

he felt as though he were losing his senses; and to make all complete on returning to his own house he found it deserted and empty, not one of all his servants, male or female, remaining in it

He reviewed his position, and saw himself in a moment left without wife, friend, or servants, abandoned, he felt, by the heaven above him, and more than all robbed of his honour

This was the end of all three, an end that came of a thoughtless beginning.

true nobility consists in virtue

if thou art wanting in that, refusing me what in justice thou owest me, then even I have higher claims to nobility than thine.

when the potent sway of passion asserts itself, so long as there be no mixture of sin in it, he is not to be blamed who gives way to it.

if thou wilt not have me for what I am, thy true and lawful wife, at least take and accept me as thy slave

whether thou wilt, or wilt not, I am thy wife

let not this open manifestation rouse thy anger; but rather so calm it as to allow these two lovers to live in peace and quiet without any interference from thee

may she live in peace and contentment as many happy years with her Cardenio, as on my knees I pray Heaven to allow me to live with my Dorothea

This peace is the true end of war; and war is only another name for arms.

the end of war is peace, and that so far it has the advantage of the end of letters

the soul of the warrior, when he has an army, or the defence of a city under his care, did not exert itself as much by mind as by body

the justly earned reward of their virtue

for he is dependent on his miserable pay, which comes late or never, or else on what he can plunder, seriously imperilling his life and conscience

for he can easily measure out on the ground as he likes, and roll himself about in it to his heart’s content without any fear of the sheets slipping away from him

by how much do those who have gained by war fall short of the number of those who have perished in it?

for by skirts, to say nothing of sleeves, they all find means of support

whatever costs most is valued and deserves to be valued most

for at every step he runs the risk of losing his life

courage and daring the greatest that all the chances of war can show

the soldier’s life is a school in which the niggard becomes free-handed and the free-handed prodigal

Better a king’s crumb than a lord’s favour

I alone was miserable; for, instead of some naval crown that I might have expected had it been in Roman times, on the night that followed that famous day I found myself with fetters on my feet and manacles on my hands

the only sad being among so many filled with joy, and the only captive among so many free

so great, as I said, was the cruelty with which he treated them, and the hatred with which they hated him

experiment proved how easily entrenchments could be made in the desert sand there

for if in the Goletta and in the fort there were barely seven thousand soldiers, how could such a small number, however resolute, sally out and hold their own against numbers like those of the enemy?

And how is it possible to help losing a stronghold that is not relieved, above all when surrounded by a host of determined enemies in their own country?

for to my mind there is no happiness on earth to compare with recovering lost liberty.

without giving way to despair I immediately began to look out for or conjure up some new hope to support me, however faint or feeble it might be.

The only one that fared at all well with him was a Spanish soldier, something de Saavedra by name, to whom he never gave a blow himself, or ordered a blow to be given, or addressed a hard word, although he had done things that will dwell in the memory of the people there for many a year, and all to recover his liberty;

for it is the custom with some renegades, when they intend to return to Christian territory, to carry about them certificates from captives of mark testifying, in whatever form they can, that such and such a renegade is a worthy man who has always shown kindness to Christians, and is anxious to escape on the first opportunity that may present itself.

I know not how to go. I have seen many Christians, but except thyself none has seemed to me to be a gentleman. I am young and beautiful, and have plenty of money to take with me.

As to what thou sayest, that if thou dost reach the land of the Christians thou wilt be my wife, I give thee my promise upon it as a good Christian; and know that the Christians keep their promises better than the Moors.

recovered liberty and the dread of losing it again efface from the memory all the obligations in the world.

the beauty of some women has its times and its seasons, and is increased or diminished by chance causes; and naturally the emotions of the mind will heighten or impair it, though indeed more frequently they totally destroy it.

she told me afterwards her father valued them at ten thousand doubloons, and those she had on her wrists were worth as much more.

she, who is now mistress of me only, was mistress of all this.

she only meant that the Turks should go, not thou; or that it was time for thee to look for thy herbs.

She is here of her own free will, as glad, I imagine, to find herself in this position as he who escapes from darkness into the light, from death to life, and from suffering to glory.

A Christian I am, but it is not I who have placed thee in this position, for it never was my wish to leave thee or do thee harm, but only to do good to myself.

The desires, however, of those people do not go beyond money, but of that their covetousness is insatiable, and on this occasion it was carried to such a pitch that they would have taken even the clothes we wore as captives if they had been worth anything to them.

such is the delight of recovering lost liberty.

The patience with which she endures the hardships that poverty brings with it, and the eagerness she shows to become a Christian, are such that they fill me with admiration, and bind me to serve her all my life

the worth and wisdom that your brother’s bearing shows him to possess do not make it likely that he will prove haughty or insensible, or that he will not know how to estimate the accidents of fortune at their proper value

that I could bring news to our old father that thou art alive, even wert thou in the deepest dungeon of Barbary; for his wealth and my brother’s and mine would rescue thee thence

They told each other in a few words the events of their lives; they showed the true affection of brothers in all its strength

I know not where the haven lies, I dare not hope to gain it

But over-cautious prudery, And coyness cold and cruel, When most I need it, these, like clouds, Its longed-for light refuse me.

it being a settled point with knights-errant that when they have tried an adventure, and have not succeeded in it, it is a sign that it is not reserved for them but for others, and that therefore they need not try it again.

She knows nothing more of my passion than what she may have learned from having sometimes seen from a distance that my eyes were filled with tears.

For her I left my father’s house, and for her I assumed this disguise, to follow her whithersoever she may go, as the arrow seeks its mark or the sailor the pole-star.

time has more power to alter and change things, than human will.

such transformations will take place in adventures of chivalry.

Perhaps as you are not dubbed knights like myself, the enchantments of this place have nothing to do with you, and your faculties are unfettered, and you can see things in this castle as they really and truly are, and not as they appear to me.

Unless, indeed, this is a deliberate joke, I cannot bring myself to believe that men so intelligent as those present are, or seem to be, can venture to declare and assert that this is not a basin, and that not a pack-saddle;

diligence is the mother of good fortune

quickness and activity forestall the devices of the enemy, and win the victory before the foe has time to defend himself

in delay there is danger

let us depart at once in quest of fair fortune

everything in this castle is done by means of enchantment

virtue is of herself so mighty, that, in spite of all the magic that Zoroaster its first inventor knew, she will come victorious out of every trial, and shed her light upon the earth as the sun does upon the heavens.

After all, where envy reigns virtue cannot live, and where there is niggardliness there can be no liberality.

Each of us is the son of his own works; and being a man I may come to be pope, not to say governor of an island, especially as my master may win so many that he will not know whom to give them to.

Mind how you talk, master barber; for shaving is not everything, and there is some difference between Peter and Peter.

fiction is all the better the more it looks like truth, and gives the more pleasure the more probability and possibility there is about it.

Plots in fiction should be wedded to the understanding of the reader, and be constructed in such a way that, reconciling impossibilities, smoothing over difficulties, keeping the mind on the alert, they may surprise, interest, divert, and entertain, so that wonder and delight joined may keep pace one with the other;

for the unrestricted range of these books enables the author to show his powers, epic, lyric, tragic, or comic, and all the moods the sweet and winning arts of poesy and oratory are capable of

if those that are now in vogue, as well those that are pure invention as those founded on history, are, all or most of them, downright nonsense and things that have neither head nor tail, and yet the public listens to them with delight, and regards and cries them up as perfection when they are so far from it

the same end would be, beyond all comparison, better attained by means of good plays than by those that are not so

I know and feel that I am enchanted, and that is enough to ease my conscience; for it would weigh heavily on it if I thought that I was not enchanted, and that in a faint-hearted and cowardly way I allowed myself to lie in this cage, defrauding multitudes of the succour I might afford to those in need and distress,

For myself I can say that since I have been a knight-errant I have become valiant, polite, generous, well-bred, magnanimous, courteous, dauntless, gentle, patient, and have learned to bear hardships, imprisonments, and enchantments;

the poor man is incapacitated from showing the virtue of generosity to anyone, though he may possess it in the highest degree; and gratitude that consists of disposition only is a dead thing, just as faith without works is dead.

if this be wanting in the beginning, the middle and the end will always go wrong; and God as commonly aids the honest intentions of the simple as he frustrates the evil designs of the crafty.

for there are no locks, or guards, or bolts that can protect a young girl better than her own modesty.

I do not mean that they ought to leave them to make a choice of what is contemptible and bad, but that they should place before them what is good and then allow them to make a good choice as they please.

The wealth of the father and the beauty of the daughter led many neighbours as well as strangers to seek her for a wife; but he, as one might well be who had the disposal of so rich a jewel, was perplexed and unable to make up his mind to which of her countless suitors he should entrust her.

The peasant folk, who are naturally malicious, and when they have nothing to do can be malice itself, remarked all this, and took note of his finery and jewellery, piece by piece, and discovered that he had three suits of different colours, with garters and stockings to match; but he made so many arrangements and combinations out of them, that if they had not counted them, anyone would have sworn that he had made a display of more than ten suits of clothes and twenty plumes.

The fame of her beauty began to spread abroad through all the villages around—but why do I say the villages around, merely, when it spread to distant cities, and even made its way into the halls of royalty and reached the ears of people of every class, who came from all sides to see her as if to see something rare and curious, or some wonder-working image?

I follow another, easier, and to my mind wiser course, and that is to rail at the frivolity of women, at their inconstancy, their double dealing, their broken promises, their unkept pledges, and in short the want of reflection they show in fixing their affections and inclinations.

But I trust in God our Lord that the might of one malignant enchanter may not prove so great but that the power of another better disposed may prove superior to it, and then I promise you my support and assistance, as I am bound to do by my profession, which is none other than to give aid to the weak and needy.

Those the soldier shows on his face and breast are stars that direct others to the heaven of honour and ambition of merited praise

it is not with grey hairs that one writes, but with the understanding, and that commonly improves with years

he who has shown the greatest longing for him has been the great Emperor of China, who wrote me a letter in Chinese a month ago and sent it by a special courier

I am not fit for so long a travel and, besides being ill, I am very much without money, while Emperor for Emperor and Monarch for Monarch, I have at Naples the great Count of Lemos, who, without so many petty titles of colleges and rectorships, sustains me, protects me and does me more favour than I can wish for

let his offence be his punishment, with his bread let him eat it, and there’s an end of it

I take it amiss, too, that he calls me envious, and explains to me, as if I were ignorant, what envy is; for really and truly, of the two kinds there are, I only know that which is holy, noble, and high-minded

poverty may cast a cloud over nobility, but cannot hide it altogether; and as virtue of itself sheds a certain light, even though it be through the straits and chinks of penury, it wins the esteem of lofty and noble spirits

abundance, even of good things, prevents them from being valued; and scarcity, even in the case of what is bad, confers a certain value

comparisons of wit with wit, valour with valour, beauty with beauty, birth with birth, are always odious and unwelcome

sloth triumphs over energy, indolence over exertion, vice over virtue, arrogance over courage, and theory over practice in arms

I say this that Master Basin may know that I understand him

if the naked truth, undisguised by flattery, came to the ears of princes, times would be different, and other ages would be reckoned iron ages more than ours, which I hold to be the golden of these latter days.

if the members are obliged to feel the suffering of the head, it should be obliged to feel their sufferings.

no leaf on the tree stirs but by God’s will.

The cleverest character in comedy is the clown, for he who would make people take him for a fool, must not be one.

There is no book so bad but it has something good in it

the greater the fame of the writer, the more closely are they scrutinised.

there is a time to attack and a time to retreat

the mean of valour lies between the extremes of cowardice and rashness

honours change manners

when good luck comes to thee, take it in

The best sauce in the world is hunger, and as the poor are never without that, they always eat with a relish.

a daughter looks better ill married than well whored.

he who does not know how to take advantage of luck when it comes to him, has no right to complain if it gives him the go-by;

who covers thee, discovers thee.

all things present that our eyes behold, bring themselves before us, and remain and fix themselves on our memory much better and more forcibly than things past.

The poor gentleman has no way of showing that he is a gentleman but by virtue, by being affable, well-bred, courteous, gentle-mannered, and kindly, not haughty, arrogant, or censorious, but above all by being charitable;

the possessor of wealth is not made happy by possessing it, but by spending it, and not by spending as he pleases, but by knowing how to spend it well.

the path of virtue is very narrow, and the road of vice broad and spacious; I know their ends and goals are different, for the broad and easy road of vice ends in death, and the narrow and toilsome one of virtue in life, and not transitory life, but in that which has no end;

He is only breaking out at the door of his madness

death is deaf, and when it comes to knock at our life’s door, it is always urgent

a good hope is better than a bad holding

if the pigeon-house does not lack food, it will not lack pigeons

nothing in life makes knights-errant more valorous than finding themselves favoured by their ladies

any beam of the sun of her beauty that reaches my eyes will give light to my reason and strength to my heart

naked was I born, naked I find myself, I neither lose nor gain

the desire of acquiring fame is a very powerful motive.

the work of fame that mortals desire as a reward and a portion of the immortality their famous deeds deserve

a fame that, however long it may last, must after all end with the world itself, which has its own appointed end.

the truth may run fine but will not break, and always rises above falsehood as oil above water

with lovers the outward actions and motions they give way to when their loves are in question are the faithful messengers that carry the news of what is going on in the depths of their hearts.

a stout heart breaks bad luck, and that where there are no fletches there are no pegs

Well, there’s remedy for everything except death, under whose yoke we have all to pass, whether we like it or not, when life’s finished.

Tell me what company thou keepest, and I’ll tell thee what thou art,

Not with whom thou art bred, but with whom thou art fed.

What the devil is this? What weakness is this? Are we here or in France? The devil fly away with all the Dulcineas in the world; for the well-being of a single knight-errant is of more consequence than all the enchantments and transformations on earth.

one must touch with the hand what appears to the eye, if illusions are to be avoided.

he is the best physician for these and greater ailments.

I alone am to blame for her misfortune and hard fate; her calamity has come of the hatred the wicked bear me.

against sops from the brook, and plenty of them, there is no defensive armour in the world, except to stow oneself away under a brass bell

it is rashness, and not valour, for a single man to attack an army that has Death in it

the accessories of the drama should be real, instead of being mere fictions and semblances, like the drama itself

when life ends, death strips them all of the garments that distinguish one from the other, and all are equal in the grave

your worship’s conversation has been the dung that has fallen on the barren soil of my dry wit, and the time I have been in your service and society has been the tillage

men have received many lessons from beasts, and learned many important things

the ills arising from well-bestowed affections should be esteemed favours rather than misfortunes

the cares of others kill the ass

madness will have more followers and hangers-on than sound sense

if the blind lead the blind, both are in danger of falling into the pit.

for those who seek adventures don’t always find good ones.

The more the vanquished hath of fair renown, The greater glory gilds the victor’s crown.

let each look out for the arrow—though the surer way would be to let everyone’s anger sleep, for nobody knows the heart of anyone, and a man may come for wool and go back shorn;

God gave his blessing to peace and his curse to quarrels;

a man may come for wool and go back shorn;

The difference between the two sorts of madmen is, that he who is so will he nil he, will be one always, while he who is so of his own accord can leave off being one whenever he likes.

it is easy enough to plan and set about an enterprise, but it is often a difficult matter to come well out of it.

I have left my home, I have mortgaged my estate, I have given up my comforts, and committed myself to the arms of Fortune, to bear me whithersoever she may please.

I hear mass every day; I share my substance with the poor, making no display of good works, lest I let hypocrisy and vainglory, those enemies that subtly take possession of the most watchful heart, find an entrance into mine.

learning without virtue is a pearl on a dunghill

Children, señor, are portions of their parents’ bowels, and therefore, be they good or bad, are to be loved as we love the souls that give us life

Poetry, gentle sir, is, as I take it, like a tender young maiden of supreme beauty, to array, bedeck, and adorn whom is the task of several other maidens, who are all the rest of the sciences

art does not surpass nature, but only brings it to perfection; and thus, nature combined with art, and art with nature, will produce a perfect poet

He who is prepared has his battle half fought

valour that trenches upon temerity savours rather of madness than of courage

if his adversary does not come, on him lies the disgrace, and he who waits for him carries off the crown of victory

The enchanters may be able to rob me of good fortune, but of fortitude and courage they cannot.

it is easier for a rash man to prove truly valiant than for a coward to rise to true valour

in attempting adventures it is better to lose by a card too many than by a card too few

to seek these, to attack those, and to vanquish all, are in truth his main duties

the majority of the world are of opinion that there never were any knights-errant in it

sloth and indolence, gluttony and luxury are triumphant

if you wish to spare yourself fatigue and toil in reaching the inaccessible summit of the temple of fame, you have nothing to do but to turn aside out of the somewhat narrow path of poetry and take the still narrower one of knight-errantry

no fathers or mothers ever think their own children ill-favoured, and this sort of deception prevails still more strongly in the case of the children of the brain.

wealth can solder a great many flaws.

love and fancy easily blind the eyes of the judgment, so much wanted in choosing one’s way of life;

The companionship of one’s wife is no article of merchandise, that, after it has been bought, may be returned, or bartered, or changed; for it is an inseparable accident that lasts as long as life lasts; it is a noose that, once you put it round your neck, turns into a Gordian knot, which, if the scythe of Death does not cut it, there is no untying.

God who gives the wound gives the salve; nobody knows what will happen; there are a good many hours between this and to-morrow, and any one of them, or any moment, the house may fall;

love, I have heard say, looks through spectacles that make copper seem gold, poverty wealth, and bleary eyes pearls.

strength is overcome by skill.

On a good foundation you can raise a good building, and the best foundation in the world is money.

there are only two families in the world, the Haves and the Haven’ts; and she stuck to the Haves

an ass covered with gold looks better than a horse with a pack-saddle

She is no reaper that sleeps out the noontide; at all times she is reaping and cutting down, as well the dry grass as the green

She is no reaper that sleeps out the noontide; at all times she is reaping and cutting down, as well the dry grass as the green

she devours all and is ready for all, and fills her alforjas with people of all sorts, ages, and ranks

she has a canine appetite that is never satisfied

the fear of God being the beginning of wisdom, thou, who art more afraid of a lizard than of him, knowest so much

He preaches well who lives well

I know no more theology than that

it naturally stands to reason, that my death will come before thine

she is in no way squeamish, she devours all and is ready for all

remember love and war are the same thing, and as in war it is allowable and common to make use of wiles and stratagems to overcome the enemy, so in the contests and rivalries of love the tricks and devices employed to attain the desired end are justifiable, provided they be not to the discredit or dishonour of the loved object.

the poor, if they are persons of virtue and good sense, have those who follow, honour, and uphold them, just as the rich have those who flatter and dance attendance on them.

love has no greater enemy than hunger and constant want

all the pleasures of this life pass away like a shadow and a dream, or fade like the flower of the field

What I marvel at is, that I know it to be as sure as that it is now day, that Durandarte ended his life in my arms, and that, after his death, I took out his heart with my own hands

according to naturalists, he who has a large heart is more largely endowed with valour than he who has a small one

I took out your heart as well as I could, not leaving an atom of it in your breast, I wiped it with a lace handkerchief, and I took the road to France with it

all comparisons are odious, and there is no occasion to compare one person with another

we are all bound to pay respect to the aged, even though they be not knights, but especially to those who are, and who are enchanted

The proverb, ‘Tell me what company thou keepest and I’ll tell thee what thou art,’ is to the point here

that which is called need is to be met with everywhere, and penetrates all quarters and reaches everyone, and does not spare even the enchanted

I am grieved to the heart because of her distresses, and wish I was a Fucar to remedy them, and that I would have her know that I cannot be, and ought not be, in health while deprived of the happiness of seeing her

I will make the same to take no rest, and to roam the seven regions of the earth more thoroughly than the Infante Don Pedro of Portugal ever roamed them, until I have disenchanted her

I cannot convince or persuade myself that everything that is written in the preceding chapter could have precisely happened to the valiant Don Quixote

if, then, this adventure seems apocryphal, it is no fault of mine; and so, without affirming its falsehood or its truth, I write it down

at the worst the hypocrite who pretends to be good does less harm than the open sinner

not to let your mind dwell on the adverse chances that may befall you; for the worst of all is death, and if it be a good death, the best of all is to die

it is better for the soldier to smell of gunpowder than of civet

it is not right to deal with them after the fashion of those who set free and get rid of their black slaves when they are old and useless, and, turning them out of their houses under the pretence of making them free, make them slaves to hunger

there is nothing on earth more honourable or profitable than serving, first of all God, and then one’s king and natural lord

those founded by arms have I know not what superiority over those founded by letters, and a certain splendour belonging to them that distinguishes them above all

time, that discloses all things, leaves nothing that it does not drag into the light of day, though it be buried in the bosom of the earth.

Are there not almost every day a thousand comedies represented all round us full of thousands of inaccuracies and absurdities, and, for all that, they have a successful run, and are listened to not only with applause, but with admiration and all the rest of it?

Go on, boy, and don’t mind; for so long as I fill my pouch, no matter if I show as many inaccuracies as there are motes in a sunbeam.

I wish I had here before me now all those who do not or will not believe how useful knights-errant are in the world; just think, if I had not been here present, what would have become of the brave Don Gaiferos and the fair Melisendra!

to me everything that has taken place here seemed to take place literally, that Melisendra was Melisendra, Don Gaiferos Don Gaiferos, Marsilio Marsilio, and Charlemagne Charlemagne.

the valour which is not based upon a foundation of prudence is called rashness, and the exploits of the rash man are to be attributed rather to good fortune than to courage;

When the brave man flees, treachery is manifest and it is for wise men to reserve themselves for better occasions.

to take them up for trifles and things to laugh at and be amused by rather than offended, looks as though he who did so was altogether wanting in common sense.

to take an unjust revenge (and there cannot be any just one) is directly opposed to the sacred law that we acknowledge, wherein we are commanded to do good to our enemies and to love them that hate us;

honey is not for the mouth of the ass.

he who sins and mends commends himself to God.

for trees of this kind and others like them always have feet but no hands.

this bark is plainly, and without the possibility of any alternative, calling and inviting me to enter it

Do as thy master bids thee, and sit down to table with him

for he who would carry themselves over such longinquous roads and regions would take care to feed them.

I don’t understand that logiquous

thou art not bound to know Latin, like some who pretend to know it and don’t.

though they look like mills they are not so; I have already told thee that enchantments transform things and change their proper shapes

this adventure is doubtless reserved and destined for some other knight.

what touched the stock of money touched his heart

pledges don’t distress a good payer

the carelessness of squires is often the cause of worse accidents.

what we call nature is like a potter that makes vessels of clay, and he who makes one fair vessel can as well make two, or three, or a hundred

drollery and sprightliness, Señor Don Quixote, as you very well know, do not take up their abode with dull wits

many droll things cannot be said in few words

the master is the more esteemed the more respectable and well-bred his servants are

he who falls into the way of being a chatterbox and droll, drops into a wretched buffoon the first time he trips

bridle thy tongue, consider and weigh thy words before they escape thy mouth

I despise wealth, but not honour

I have redressed injuries, righted wrongs, punished insolences, vanquished giants, and crushed monsters

I am in love, for no other reason than that it is incumbent on knights-errant to be so; but though I am, I am no carnal-minded lover, but one of the chaste, platonic sort

Not with whom thou art bred, but with whom thou art fed

the insult comes from one who is capable of offering it, and does so, and maintains it; the offence may come from any quarter without carrying insult.

a knight-errant without a lady is like a tree without leaves, a building without a foundation, or a shadow without the body that causes it.

Dulcinea is the daughter of her own works, and that virtues rectify blood, and that lowly virtue is more to be regarded and esteemed than exalted vice.

he who lives a long life must undergo much evil, though to undergo a washing of that sort is pleasure rather than pain.

he doubts everything and believes everything; when I fancy he is on the point of coming down headlong from sheer stupidity, he comes out with something shrewd that sends him up to the skies.

it does not require much cleverness or much learning to be a governor, for there are a hundred round about us that scarcely know how to read, and govern like gerfalcons.

The main point is that they should have good intentions and be desirous of doing right in all things, for they will never be at a loss for persons to advise and direct them in what they have to do,

I am a labouring man, my name is Sancho Panza, I am married, I have children, and I am serving as a squire; if in any one of these ways I can serve your highness, I will not be longer in obeying than your grace in commanding.

I hold my master Don Quixote to be stark mad, though sometimes he says things that, to my mind, and indeed everybody’s that listens to him, are so wise, and run in such a straight furrow, that Satan himself could not have said them better; but for all that, really, and beyond all question, it’s my firm belief he is cracked.

I can’t help it, I must follow him; we’re from the same village, I’ve eaten his bread, I’m fond of him, I’m grateful, he gave me his ass-colts, and above all I’m faithful; so it’s quite impossible for anything to separate us, except the pickaxe and shovel.

I invented all that to escape my master’s scolding, and not with any intention of hurting him; and if it has turned out differently, there is a God in heaven who judges our hearts.

a good name is better than great riches

one who has been a good squire will be a good governor.

no one is born ready taught, and the bishops are made out of men and not out of stones.

I’d as soon stab myself as consent to it; for though my master says that in civilities it is better to lose by a card too many than a card too few, when it comes to civilities to asses we must mind what we are about and keep within due bounds.

it’s a long step from saying to doing.

it’s the tripes that carry the feet and not the feet the tripes

there’s the tail to be skinned yet for him

a stout heart breaks bad luck

the tears of beauty in distress turn rocks into cotton and tigers into ewes

unless you become softer than a ripe fig, you shall not get hold of the government

works of charity done in a lukewarm and half-hearted way are without merit and of no avail

covetousness bursts the bag

Relief in distress, help in need, protection for damsels, consolation for widows, are to be found in no sort of persons better than in knights-errant

he who clipped us has kept the scissors

as much is lost by a card too many as by a card too few

I am in such distress that I shall never be able to make a proper return

if I am not wearying you, that he played the guitar so as to make it speak, and he was, besides, a poet and a great dancer, and he could make birdcages so well, that by making them alone he might have gained a livelihood, had he found himself reduced to utter poverty; and gifts and graces of this kind are enough to bring down a mountain, not to say a tender young girl.

But all his gallantry, wit, and gaiety, all his graces and accomplishments, would have been of little or no avail towards gaining the fortress of my pupil, had not the impudent thief taken the precaution of gaining me over first.

But that they have not, for Heaven will not suffer so great a wrong to Earth, as it would be to pluck unripe the grapes of the fairest vineyard on its surface.

But where am I wandering to? Woe is me, unfortunate being! What madness or folly leads me to speak of the faults of others, when there is so much to be said about my own?

it was not verses that conquered me, but my own simplicity; it was not music made me yield, but my own imprudence; my own great ignorance and little caution opened the way and cleared the path for Don Clavijo’s advances

for according to the rules of my master here—and he won’t allow me to lie—as of men of letters bishops are made, so of gentlemen knights, specially if they be errant, kings and emperors may be made.

Would to heaven that he had swept off our heads with his enormous scimitar instead of obscuring the light of our countenances with these wool-combings that cover us!

Oh duennas, companions mine! it was an unlucky moment when we were born and an ill-starred hour when our fathers begot us!

A good joke indeed! I can hardly keep my seat upon Dapple, and on a pack-saddle softer than silk itself, and here they’d have me hold on upon haunches of plank without pad or cushion of any sort!

Once more, sirs, I say my master may go alone, and much good may it do him; and I’ll stay here in the company of my lady the duchess; and maybe when he comes back, he will find the lady Dulcinea’s affair ever so much advanced; for I mean in leisure hours, and at idle moments, to give myself a spell of whipping without so much as a hair to cover me.

If this charitable work were to be done for the sake of damsels in confinement or charity-girls, a man might expose himself to some hardships; but to bear it for the sake of stripping beards off duennas! Devil take it! I’d sooner see them all bearded, from the highest to the lowest, and from the most prudish to the most affected.

whether we duennas are good or bad, bearded or smooth, we are our mothers’ daughters like other women; and as God sent us into the world, he knows why he did, and on his mercy I rely, and not on anybody’s beard.

God bears with the wicked, but not for ever.

rewards and favours of that sort are reserved for God alone.

blood is an inheritance, but virtue an acquisition, and virtue has in itself alone a worth that blood does not possess.

the reputation of the stern judge stands not higher than that of the compassionate.

though the attributes of God are all equal, to our eyes that of mercy is brighter and loftier than that of justice.

diligence is the mother of good fortune, and indolence, its opposite, never yet attained the object of an honest ambition.

never engage in a dispute about families, at least in the way of comparing them one with another;

heaven always helps good intentions;

there can be no humour without discretion

I place a barrier between my inclinations and my virtue

possess all things as though ye possessed them not

Poor gentleman of good family! always cockering up his honour, dining miserably and in secret

for her I am honey, for you aloes

Nature sent me into the world to be hers and no other’s

Let worthy Sancho go in peace, and good luck to him, Gentle Reader; and look out for two bushels of laughter

I haven’t got the ‘Don,’ nor has anyone of my family ever had it

God sometimes guides those who govern in their judgments, even though they may be fools

all repletion is bad, but that of partridge is the worst of all

simple medicines are more esteemed than compound ones, for we cannot go wrong in those that are simple, while in the compound we may, by merely altering the quantity of the things composing them

Love that springs up swift and sudden, Here to-day, to-morrow flown, Passes, leaves no trace behind it, Leaves no image on the soul

The quality of all in lovers Most esteemed is constancy

Modesty’s a marriage portion, Modesty their highest praise

for a trade that does not feed its master is not worth two beans.

for it is the tripes that carry the heart and not the heart the tripes.

We who govern and we who are judges—are we not men of flesh and blood, and are we not to be allowed the time required for taking rest, unless they’d have us made of marble?

I am not marble, nor are you brass, nor is it now ten o’clock in the morning, but midnight, or a trifle past it I fancy, and we are in a room more secluded and retired than the cave could have been where the treacherous and daring Æneas enjoyed the fair soft-hearted Dido.

I require no better protection than my own continence, and my own sense of propriety; as well as that which is inspired by that venerable head-dress;

all except myself, for in my case I give her nothing to eat, thanks to Señor Doctor Pedro Recio Tirteafuera here, who would have me die of hunger, and declares that death to be life; and the same sort of life may God give him and all his kind—I mean the bad doctors; for the good ones deserve palms and laurels.

lazy idlers are the same thing in a State as the drones in a hive, that eat up the honey the industrious bees make.

I mean to protect the husbandman, to preserve to the gentleman his privileges, to reward the virtuous, and above all to respect religion and honour its ministers.

for when God sends the dawn, he sends it for all.

let us live and eat in peace and good-fellowship, for when God sends the dawn, he sends it for all.

I know already, notary, that there is a good deal to be said on that point,

Granted your worship may order me to be taken to prison, and to have irons and chains put on me, and to be shut up in a cell, and may lay heavy penalties on the gaoler if he lets me out, and that he obeys your orders; still, if I don’t choose to sleep, and choose to remain awake all night without closing an eye, will your worship with all your power be able to make me sleep if I don’t choose?

let me advise you don’t joke with the authorities, because you may come across someone who will bring down the joke on your own skull.

ill-placed desires can only be paid for in some such way

the woman and the hen by gadding about are soon lost

she who is eager to see is also eager to be seen

When they offer thee a heifer, run with a halter; when they offer thee a government, take it

to make a beginning is everything in luck

don’t answer the strokes of good fortune and the lucky chances that are knocking at the door of your house

very often it is fitting and necessary for the authority of office to resist the humility of the heart

proclamations that are not observed are the same as if they did not exist

Be a father to virtue and a stepfather to vice

Be not always strict, nor yet always lenient, but observe a mean between these two extremes, for in that is the aim of wisdom

when there was any doubt about the justice of a case I should lean to mercy

ingratitude is the daughter of pride, and one of the greatest sins we know of

he who is grateful to those who have been good to him shows that he will be so to God also

amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas

the presence of the governor is of great importance in such places; it comforts the prisoners who are in hopes of a speedy release, it is the bugbear of the butchers who have then to give just weight, and it is the terror of the market-women for the same reason

Some days since, valiant knight, I gave you an account of the injustice and treachery of a wicked farmer to my dearly beloved daughter, the unhappy damsel here before you, and you promised me to take her part and right the wrong that has been done her

lo and behold suddenly there came in through the door of the great hall two women, as they afterwards proved to be, draped in mourning from head to foot

for to expect that my lord the duke will do me justice is to ask pears from the elm tree

the chief object of my profession is to spare the humble and chastise the proud

I hereby for this once waive my privilege of gentle blood, and come down and put myself on a level with the lowly birth of the wrong-doer

To fancy that in this life anything belonging to it will remain for ever in the same state is an idle fancy

Man’s life alone, swifter than time, speeds onward to its end without any hope of renewal

I was not born to be a governor or protect islands or cities from the enemies that choose to attack them. Ploughing and digging, vinedressing and pruning, are more in my way than defending provinces or kingdoms.

Saint Peter is very well at Rome; I mean each of us is best following the trade he was born to.

I know that well-gotten gain may be lost, but ill-gotten gain is lost, itself and its owner likewise.

We knew not our good fortune until we lost it; and such is the longing we almost all of us have to return to Spain, that most of those who like myself know the language, and there are many who do, come back to it and leave their wives and children forsaken yonder, so great is their love for it;

for cares have very little sway over us while we are eating and drinking.

With bread all sorrows are less.

man proposes and God disposes

as the occasion, so the behaviour

where one thinks there are flitches, there are no pegs

If a governor comes out of his government rich, they say he has been a thief; and if he comes out poor, that he has been a noodle and a blockhead.

I entered naked, and naked I find myself; I neither lose nor gain.

trying to stop slanderers’ tongues is like trying to put gates to the open plain.

for what thou hast to give to the mouse, give to the cat, and it will save thee all trouble.

God our Lord has given her, may Saint Peter add his blessing.

Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has bestowed upon men; no treasures that the earth holds buried or the sea conceals can compare with it

for freedom, as for honour, life may and should be ventured

the sense of being under an obligation to return benefits and favours received is a restraint that checks the independence of the spirit

Happy he, to whom heaven has given a piece of bread for which he is not bound to give thanks to any but heaven itself!

love is influenced by no consideration, recognises no restraints of reason, and is of the same nature as death

when it takes entire possession of a heart, the first thing it does is to banish fear and shame from it

there are two sorts of beauty, one of the mind, the other of the body

and when it is this sort of beauty and not that of the body that is the attraction, love is apt to spring up suddenly and violently

it is enough for an honest man not to be a monster to be an object of love, if only he possesses the endowments of mind I have mentioned

I was born, Sancho, to live dying, and thou to die eating

let me tell you, señor, there’s no greater folly than to think of dying of despair as your worship does

I’ll stretch out my life by eating until it reaches the end heaven has fixed for it

he goes wrong and departs from the truth in the most important part of the history

his motto is constancy, and his profession to maintain the same with his life and never wrong it

he treated it as read and pronounced it utterly silly; and, if by any chance it should come to its author’s ears that he had it in his hand, he did not want him to flatter himself with the idea that he had read it; for our thoughts, and still more our eyes, should keep themselves aloof from what is obscene and filthy.

if it is the condition of the remedy that Sancho shall receive three thousand and odd lashes, what does it matter to me whether he inflicts them himself, or someone else inflicts them, when the essential point is that he receives them, let them come from whatever quarter they may?

heaven by strange circuitous ways, mysterious and incomprehensible to man, raises up the fallen and makes rich the poor.

O furious force of jealousy, to what desperate lengths dost thou lead those that give thee lodging in their bosoms!

From what I have seen here, justice is such a good thing that there is no doing without it, even among the thieves themselves.

What led me into it was a certain thirst for vengeance, which is strong enough to disturb the quietest hearts.

as one depth calls to another, and one sin to another sin, revenges have linked themselves together

the beginning of health lies in knowing the disease and in the sick man’s willingness to take the medicines which the physician prescribes

sinners of discernment are nearer amendment than those who are fools

as fire cannot be hidden or kept secret, virtue cannot escape being recognised

to advise this good man is to kick against the pricks

there’s many a man would rather undertake to kill a giant than cut a caper.

That answer did not need a question; for of course the treatment one receives shows the disposition of him from whom it is received.

translation from one language into another, if it be not from the queens of languages, the Greek and the Latin, is like looking at Flemish tapestries on the wrong side; for though the figures are visible, they are full of threads that make them indistinct, and they do not show with the smoothness and brightness of the right side

fictions have the more merit and charm about them the more nearly they approach the truth or what looks like it; and true stories, the truer they are the better they are

It’s these that are the real chanted things, and not the ones my master talks of.

rashness is not valour

it’s a long step from saying to doing

There’s a remedy for everything except death

the sight would have removed all doubt from your mind that there ever has been or can be a beauty to be compared with hers

live the fame of the lady Dulcinea’s beauty undimmed as ever

she whom commonly they call Fortune is a drunken whimsical jade, and, what is more, blind, and therefore neither sees what she does, nor knows whom she casts down or whom she sets up.

there is no such thing as Fortune in the world, nor does anything which takes place there, be it good or bad, come about by chance, but by the special preordination of heaven; and hence the common saying that ‘each of us is the maker of his own Fortune.’

I have been that of mine; but not with the proper amount of prudence, and my self-confidence has therefore made me pay dearly; for I ought to have reflected that Rocinante’s feeble strength could not resist the mighty bulk of the Knight of the White Moon’s horse.

though I lost my honour I did not lose nor can I lose the virtue of keeping my word.

the fault of the ass must not be laid on the pack-saddle;

the fat challenger prune, peel, thin, trim and correct himself, and take eleven stone of his flesh off his body, here or there, as he pleases, and as suits him best; and being in this way reduced to nine stone weight, he will make himself equal and even with nine stone of his opponent, and they will be able to run on equal terms.

he owes no man anything; he pays for everything, particularly when the coin is madness.

A knight may very possibly be proof against love; but it is impossible, strictly speaking, for him to be ungrateful.

Sleep, I have heard say, has only one fault, that it is like death; for between a sleeping man and a dead man there is very little difference.

It is the duty of good servants to share the sufferings and feel the sorrows of their masters, if it be only for the sake of appearances.

the thoughts that allow one to make verses cannot be of great consequence;

better a clear escape than good men’s prayers.

Not with whom thou art bred, but with whom thou art fed.

the wrath of lovers always ends in curses.

if eyes don’t see hearts don’t break

She lay with her head resting upon a cushion of brocade and crowned with a garland of sweet-smelling flowers of divers sorts, her hands crossed upon her bosom, and between them a branch of yellow palm of victory.

While fair Altisidora, who the sport Of cold Don Quixote’s cruelty hath been, Returns to life, and in this magic court The dames in sables come to grace the scene,

My soul, from this strait prison-house set free, As o’er the Stygian lake it floats along, Thy praises singing still shall hold its way, And make the waters of oblivion stay.

the happiness we look forward to from her restoration be no longer deferred.

upon this ceremony depends the restoration of Altisidora.

I might let myself be handled by all the world; but allow duennas to touch me—not a bit of it!

That’s trick upon trick, I think, and not honey upon pancakes; a nice thing it would be for a whipping to come now, on the top of pinches, smacks, and pin-proddings!

God forgive thee, insensible knight, for through thy cruelty I have been, to me it seems, more than a thousand years in the other world;

I came to the gate, where some dozen or so of devils were playing tennis, all in breeches and doublets, with falling collars trimmed with Flemish bonelace, and ruffles of the same that served them for wristbands, with four fingers’ breadth of the arms exposed to make their hands look longer;

If it should be good, faithful, and true, it will have ages of life; but if it should be bad, from its birth to its burial will not be a very long journey.

I was born to belong to Dulcinea del Toboso, and the fates, if there are any, dedicated me to her;

All that you have seen to-night has been make-believe; I’m not the woman to let the black of my nail suffer for such a camel, much less die!

for with the callow poets of our day the way is for every one to write as he pleases and pilfer where he chooses, whether it be germane to the matter or not, and now-a-days there is no piece of silliness they can sing or write that is not set down to poetic licence.

for a vanquished knight like himself it was fitter he should live in a pig-sty than in a royal palace.

She herself has told me that lace is worn in hell; and as she must know how to make it, let it never be out of her hands; for when she is occupied in shifting the bobbins to and fro, the image or images of what she loves will not shift to and fro in her thoughts;

I never in all my life saw a lace-maker that died for love; when damsels are at work their minds are more set on finishing their tasks than on thinking of their loves.

the mere thought of the cruelty with which this vagabond villain has treated me will suffice to blot him out of my memory without any other device

had it been me, i’faith ‘another cock would have crowed to thee.’

I am not sure, however, whether payment will comport with the cure, and I would not have the reward interfere with the medicine.

the treasures of Venice, the mines of Potosi, would be insufficient to pay thee.

I am Don Quixote of La Mancha, the one that fame speaks of, and not the unlucky one that has attempted to usurp my name and deck himself out in my ideas.

I entreat your worship by your devoir as a gentleman to be so good as to make a declaration before the alcalde of this village that you never in all your life saw me until now, and that neither am I the Don Quixote in print in the Second Part, nor this Sancho Panza, my squire, the one your worship knew.

comes vanquished by the arm of another, comes victor over himself, which, as he himself has told me, is the greatest victory anyone can desire.

the foolishest thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die without rhyme or reason, without anybody killing him, or any hands but melancholy’s making an end of him.

I was mad, now I am in my senses; I was Don Quixote of La Mancha, I am now, as I said, Alonso Quixano the Good

I feel myself at the point of death, and I would fain meet it in such a way as to show that my life has not been so ill that I should leave behind me the name of a madman

For me alone was Don Quixote born, and I for him; it was his to act, mine to write; we two together make but one

Hold off! ye weaklings; hold your hands! Adventure it let none, For this emprise, my lord the king, Was meant for me alone.

my desire has been no other than to deliver over to the detestation of mankind the false and foolish tales of the books of chivalry

A crazy man his life he passed, But in his senses died at last.