Don Quijote de la Mancha I Quotes

“Para mí sola nació don Quijote y yo para él; él supo obrar y yo escribir.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Je cherche dans la mort la vie,
Dans la prison la liberté,
La santé dans la maladie,
Dans le traître la loyauté.
Mais mon infortune est si grande
Que le destin impatienté,
Si l'impossible je demande,
M'a le possible refusé.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Siempre deja la ventura una puerta abierta en las desdichas, para dar remedio a ellas.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“In short, he became so absorbed in his books that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise, and his days from dawn to dark, poring over them; and what with little sleep and much reading his brains got so dry that he lost his wits.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“-Señor- respondió Sancho-, que el retirar no es huir, ni el esperar es cordura, cuando el peligro sobrepuja a la esperanza, y de sabios es guardarse hoy para mañana, y no aventurarse todo en un día.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“No hay memoria a quien el tiempo no acabe, ni dolor que muerte no le consuma.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Ah, senor!" said the niece, "your worship had better order these to be burned as well as the others; for it would be no wonder if, after being cured of his chivalry disorder, my uncle, by reading these, took a fancy to turn shepherd and range the woods and fields singing and piping; or, what would be still worse, to turn poet, which they say is an incurable and infectious malady.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Ésa es natural condición de mujeres -dijo don Quijote-: desdeñar a quien las quiere y amar a quien las aborrece. Pasa adelante, Sancho.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“In short, he became so absorbed in his books that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise, and his days from dawn to dark, poring over them; and what with little sleep and much reading his brains got so dry that he lost his wits. 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, that to him no history in the world had more reality in it.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“La mayor locura que puede hacer un hombre en esta vida es dejarse morir”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Quem não tenciona satisfazer não regateia condições no contratar.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Yo sé quién soy -dijo Don Quijote-, y sé que puedo ser, no sólo los que he dicho, sino todos los Doce Pares de Francia.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“and God as commonly aids the honest intentions of the simple as he frustrates the evil designs of the crafty.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“For however ugly we women may be, it seems to me it always pleases us to hear ourselves called beautiful”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“That is the natural way of women,” said Don Quixote, “to scorn the one that loves them, and love the one that hates them: go on, Sancho.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“it is impossible for good or evil to last for ever”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“The fear thou art in, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “prevents thee from seeing or hearing correctly, for one of the effects of fear is to derange the senses and make things appear different from what they are”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Oh, thou fierce tyrant of the realms of love,
Oh, Jealousy!”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Si el viento de la fortuna, hasta ahora tan contrario, en nuestro favor se vuelve, llevándonos las velas del deseo para que seguramente y sin contraste alguno tomemos puerto en alguna de las ínsulas que te tengo prometida,”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Ninguna persona, de cualquier estado y condición que sea, se atreva a seguir a la hermosa Marcela, so pena de caer en la furiosa indignación mía. Ella ha mostrado con claras y suficientes razones la poca o ninguna culpa que ha tenido en la muerte de Grisóstomo y cuán ajena vive de condescender con los deseos de ninguno de sus amantes; a cuya causa es justo que, en lugar de ser seguida y perseguida, sea honrada y estimada de todos los buenos del mundo, pues muestra que en él ella es sola la que con tan honesta intención vive.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“-Advertid, hermano Sancho, que esta aventura y las a esta semejantes no son aventuras de ínsulas, sino de encrucijadas, en las cuales no se gana otra cosa que sacar rota la cabeza, o una oreja menos. Tened paciencia, que aventuras se ofrecerán donde no solamente os pueda hacer gobernador, sino más adelante.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“y más, que yo de mío me soy pacífico y enemigo de meterme en ruidos ni pendencias. Bien es verdad que, en lo que tocare a defender mi persona, no tendré mucha cuenta con esas leyes, pues las divinas y humanas permiten que cada uno se defienda de quien quisiere agraviarle.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Porque quiero hacerte sabidor, Sancho, que no afrentan las heridas que se dan con los instrumentos que acaso se hallan en las manos.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Marcela: Hízome el cielo, según vosotros decís, hermosa, y de tal manera, que, sin ser poderosos a otra cosa, a que me améis os mueve mi hermosura, y por el amor que me mostráis, decís, y aun queréis, que esté yo obligada a amaros. Yo conozco, con el natural entendimiento que Dios me ha dado, que todo lo hermosos es amable; mas no alcanzo que, por razón de ser amado, esté obligado lo que es amado por hermoso a amar a quien le ama.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“for a knight-errant without love was like a tree without leaves or fruit, or a body without a soul.”
― Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“If, for my sins, or by my good fortune, I come across some giant hereabouts, a common occurrence with knights-errant, and overthrow him in one onslaught, or cleave him asunder to the waist, or, in short, vanquish and subdue him, will it not be well to have some one I may send him to as a present, that he may come in and fall on his knees before my sweet lady, and in a humble, submissive voice say, 'I am the giant Caraculiambro, lord of the island of Malindrania, vanquished in single combat by the never sufficiently extolled knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, who has commanded me to present myself before your Grace, that your Highness dispose of me at your pleasure'?”
― Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“That is the body of Chrysostom, who was unrivalled in wit, unequalled in courtesy, unapproached in gentle bearing, a phoenix in friendship, generous without limit, grave without arrogance, gay without vulgarity, and, in short, first in all that constitutes goodness and second to none in all that makes up misfortune.”
― Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“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 in the mid-course of life, cut short by a shepherdess whom he sought to immortalise in the memory of man, as these papers which you see could fully prove, had he not commanded me to consign them to the fire after having consigned his body to the earth.”
― Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“I would speak more politely if I were you," replied Don Quixote; "is it the way of this country to address knights-errant in that style, you booby?”
― Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I

“Never ask as a favour what thou canst take by force;' though it would fit better to say, 'A clear escape is better than good men's prayers.”
― Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I