Miguel de Cervantes Quotes
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There are men that will make you books, and turn them loose into the world, with as much dispatch as they would do a dish of fritters.
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Death eats up all things, both the young lamb and old sheep; and I have heard our parson say, death values a prince no more than a clown.
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God exalts the man who humbles himself.
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The most perceptive character in a play is the fool, because the man who wishes to seem simple cannot possibly be a simpleton.
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Arms are my ornaments, warfare my repose.
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Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.
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Every production must resemble its author.
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A man prepared has half fought the battle.
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To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action, when there's more reason to fear than to hope.
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Translation from one language to another is like viewing a piece of tapestry on the wrong side where though the figures are distinguishable yet there are so many ends and threads that the beauty and exactness of the work is obscured.
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"From what I have seen here," remarked Sancho, "justice is so good a thing that even robbers find it necessary."
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Valor lies just halfway between rashness and cowardice.
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Laziness never arrived at the attainment of a good wish.
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What is bought is cheaper than a gift.
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Necessity urges desperate measures.
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It is not the responsibility of knights errant to discover whether the afflicted, the enchained and the oppressed whom they encounter on the road are reduced to these circumstances and suffer this distress for their vices, or for their virtues: the knight's sole responsibility is to succour them as people in need, having eyes only for their sufferings, not for their misdeeds.
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Tis an old saying, the Devil lurks behind the cross. All is not gold that glitters. From the tail of the plough, Bamba was made King of Spain; and from his silks and riches was Rodrigo cast to be devoured by the snakes.
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Blessed be he who invented sleep, a cloak that covers all a man's thoughts.
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My heart is wax molded as she pleases, but enduring as marble to retain.
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Nor has his death the world deceived than his wondrous life surprised; if he like a madman lived least he like a wise one died.
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If thou takest virtue for the rule of life, and valuest thyself upon acting in all things comfortably thereto, thou wilt have no cause to envy lords and princes; for blood is inherited, but virtue is common property, and may be acquired by all; it has, moreover, an intrinsic worth, which blood has not.
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Be brief, for no talk can please when too long.
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Among the attributes of God, although they are equal, mercy shines with even more brilliance than justice.
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Now, blessings light on him that first invented sleep!Ê It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; it is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot.Ê It is the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap, and the balance that sets the king and the shepherd, the fool and the wise man, even.