Don Quixote Quotes

For neither good nor evil can last for ever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand.

The knight’s sole responsibility is to succour them as people in need, having eyes only for their sufferings, not for their misdeeds.

Truly I was born to be an example of misfortune, and a target at which the arrows of adversary are aimed.

Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected.

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

Be not a meddler; no affair of thine the life thy neighbours lead:

Then would my heavy sorrow turn to joy; none would I envy, all would envy me, And happiness be mine without alloy.

“the reason of the unreason with which my reason is afflicted so weakens my reason that with reason I murmur at your beauty;”

“it was not right that a horse belonging to a knight so famous, and one with such merits of his own, should be without some distinctive name”

“I looked for no less, my lord, from your High Magnificence,”

and I shall find you though you should lie closer than a lizard.

The essential point is that without seeing her you must believe, confess, affirm, swear, and defend it;

“but ye must pay for the blasphemy ye have uttered against beauty like that of my lady.”

“If thou wert a knight, as thou art none, I should have already chastised thy folly and rashness, miserable creature.”

“Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and it is God’s good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth.”

“Fly not, cowards and vile beings, for a single knight attacks you.”

Moreover, it is my belief that all knights-errant have not ladies to commend themselves to, for they are not all in love.”

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

Search your memory, and if you find anything of this kind you need only tell me of it, and I promise you by the order of knighthood which I have received to procure you satisfaction and reparation to the utmost of your desire.”

“You are a stupid, scurvy innkeeper,” said Don Quixote

Sinner that I am before God!”

“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.”

“Sancho, it strikes me thou art in great fear.”

“that what happened to us may be worth laughing at, but it is not worth making a story about, for it is not everyone that is shrewd enough to hit the right point of a thing.”

for I have heard say ‘he loves thee well that makes thee weep;’

“that all thou sayest will come true; overlook the past, for thou art shrewd enough to know that our first movements are not in our own control;

“God guide it according to my wishes and thy wants,” said Don Quixote, “and mean be he who thinks himself mean.”

“The love is not the sort your worship is thinking of,”

“And a culprit is well off when life or death with him depends on his own tongue and not on that of witnesses or evidence;”

“All that certain silly women and quacks do is to turn men mad with potions and poisons, pretending that they have power to cause love, for, as I say, it is an impossibility to compel the will.”

“never, in life or in death, thou art to say to anyone that I retired or withdrew from this danger out of fear, but only in compliance with thy entreaties;

“Blessed be all Heaven for sending us an adventure that is good for something!”

for it is still some comfort in misfortune to find one who can feel for it.

“I declare her to be the most beautiful and the most intelligent woman in the world;”

“What a set of absurdities thou art stringing together!

“though it may be in the dice that we may throw deuce-ace instead of sixes; but all will depend on thy diligence.”

“I thank thee for thy good intentions, friend Sancho,”

“to be of service to you, so much so that I had resolved not to quit these mountains until I had found you, and learned of you whether there is any kind of relief to be found for that sorrow under which from the strangeness of your life you seem to labour;

And if my good intentions deserve to be acknowledged with any kind of courtesy, I entreat you

“If you have anything to give me to eat, for God’s sake give it me, and after I have eaten I will do all you ask in acknowledgment of the goodwill you have displayed towards me.”

“Ah heavens! how many letters did I write her, and how many dainty modest replies did I receive!”

“What a set of absurdities thou art stringing together!

Now one of the instances in which this knight most conspicuously showed his prudence, worth, valour, endurance, fortitude, and love,

“Let not that anxiety trouble thee,”

“Observe the landmarks well,”

Adventure-seeking doth he go Up rugged heights, down rocky valleys, But hill or dale, or high or low, Mishap attendeth all his sallies: Love still pursues him to and fro, And plies his cruel scourge

“Now I forgive thee,”

“It is with that kind of love,” said Sancho, “I have heard preachers say we ought to love our Lord, for himself alone, without being moved by the hope of glory or the fear of punishment; though for my part, I would rather love and serve him for what he could do.”

“In faith, then, I cannot even read.”

“By my faith you are not going to make a beard of my tail any longer; you must give me back my tail, for it is a shame the way that thing of my husband’ s goes tossing about on the floor; I mean the comb that I used to stick in my good tail.”

for I would rather have a child of mine burnt than either of the others.

those two books are made up of lies, and are full of folly and nonsense;

“Try that bone on another dog,”

Such are the things that men are wont to attempt, and there is honour, glory, gain, in attempting them, however full of difficulty and peril they may be;

The virtuous and chaste woman is an ermine, and whiter and purer than snow is the virtue of modesty;

“for I have had the most prodigious and stupendous battle with the giant that I ever remember having had all the days of my life;

“Forgive me, and that will do.”

“It cannot be that everything in this castle goes by enchantment.”

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

“That I will do with all my heart,” replied Dorothea, “if it will not be wearisome to you to hear of miseries and misfortunes.”

“Now I forgive thee,”

“Ah! what a sad state your worship’s brains are in!”

“And if a friend should go so far as to put aside his duty to Heaven to fulfil his duty to his friend, it should not be in matters that are trifling or of little moment, but in such as affect the friend’s life and honour.

Such are the things that men are wont to attempt, and there is honour, glory, gain, in attempting them, however full of difficulty and peril they may be;

The virtuous and chaste woman is an ermine, and whiter and purer than snow is the virtue of modesty;

“Fair maiden, thou dost shine like a star in the firmament of beauty, and thy lovely face doth illuminate the darkness of this desolate plain.”

The first good news the world and mankind received was that which the angels announced on the night that was our day, when they sang in the air, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good-will;’

Or if this does not happen, and merciful Heaven watches over him and keeps him safe and sound,

Love resolute Knows not the word “impossibility;”

“I will let him know he lies if he is a knight, and if he is a squire that he lies again a thousand times.”

“Look, friend, what a fine sight! What a noble knight! See how he’s got his lance in hand, and his helmet on his head, and his shield with the three feathers of the Order of the Golden Fleece!”

“May I never share heaven,” said the poor barber,

“If your worship is angry,” replied Sancho,“I will hold my tongue and leave unsaid what as a good squire I am bound to say, and what a good servant should tell his master.”

Now tell me, so may God deliver you from this affliction, and so may you find yourself when you least expect it in the arms of my lady Dulcinea—”

“and I come to make good thy shortcomings and relieve my own distresses;

“For thou art hard of heart and, though a clown, tender of flesh;”

for I am Don Quixote of La Mancha, he who hath filled the whole world with his achievements.”

Thou art mad; and if thou wert so by thyself, and kept thyself within thy madness, it would not be so bad;

I do not print my books to win fame in the world, for I am known in it already by my works; I want to make money, without which reputation is not worth a rap.”