Miguel de Cervantes Quotes
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They must needs go whom the Devil drives.
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There is a strange charm in the thoughts of a good legacy, or the hopes of an estate, which wondrously removes or at least alleviates the sorrow that men would otherwise feel for the death of friends.
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The poet may say or sing, not as things were, but as they ought to have been; but the historian must pen them, not as they ought to have been, but as they really were.
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The cleverest character in comedy is the clown, for he who would make people take him for a fool, must not be one.
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It is better that a judge should lean on the side of compassion than severity.
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The ass will carry his load, but not a double load; ride not a free horse to death.
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My memory is so bad that many times I forget my own name.
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That's the nature of women, not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not.
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True valor lies in the middle between cowardice and rashness.
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Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.
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I never thrust my nose into other men's porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine; every man for himself, and God for us all.
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I shall be as secret as the grave.
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I have always heard, Sancho, that doing good to base fellows is like throwing water into the sea.
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I would have nobody to control me; I would be absolute: and who but I? Now, he that is absolute can do what he likes; he that can do what he likes can take his pleasure; he that can take his pleasure can be content; and he that can be content has no more to desire. So the matter 's over; and come what will come, I am satisfied.
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Urgent necessity prompts many to do things, at the very thoughts of which they perhaps would start at other times.
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Facts are the enemy of truth.
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One who has not only the four S's, which are required in every good lover, but even the whole alphabet; as for example... Agreeable, Bountiful, Constant, Dutiful, Easy, Faithful, Gallant, Honorable, Ingenious, Kind, Loyal, Mild, Noble, Officious, Prudent, Quiet, Rich, Secret, True, Valiant, Wise; the X indeed, is too harsh a letter to agree with him, but he is Young and Zealous.
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Do but take care to express yourself in a plain, easy Manner, in well-chosen, significant and decent Terms, and to give a harmonious and pleasing Turn to your Periods: study to explain your Thoughts, and set them in the truest Light, labouring as much as possible, not to leave them dark nor intricate, but clear and intelligible.
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Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world. Yet from this lesson thou will learn to avoid the frog's foolish ambition of swelling to rival the bigness of the ox.
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Liberty is one of the most precious gifts which heaven has bestowed on man; with it we cannot compare the treasures which the earth contains or the sea conceals; for liberty, as for honor, we can and ought to risk our lives; and, on for the other hand, captivity is the greatest evil that can befall man.
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Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.
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Leap out of the frying pan into the fire.
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The eating. By a small sample we may judge of the whole piece.
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But do not give it to a lawyer's clerk to write, for they use a legal hand that Satan himself will not understand.