Miguel de Cervantes Quotes

215 Sourced Quotes

Liberty, as well as honor, man ought to preserve at the hazard of his life, for without it life is insupportable

Miguel de Cervantes
Journey over all the universe in a map, without the expense and fatigue of traveling, without suffering the inconveniences of heat, cold, hunger, and thirst.

Miguel de Cervantes
Liberty … is one of the most valuable blessings that Heaven has bestowed upon mankind.

Miguel de Cervantes
I was ever charitable and good to the poor, and scorn to take the bread out of another man's mouth. On the other side, by our Lady, they shall play me no foul play. I am an old cur at a crust, and can sleep dog-sleep when I list. I can look sharp as well as another, and let me alone to keep the cobwebs out of my eyes. I know where the shoe wrings me. I will know who and who is together. Honesty is the best policy, I will stick to that. The good shall have my hand and heart, but the bad neither foot nor fellowship. And in my mind, the main point of governing, is to make a good beginning.

Miguel de Cervantes
Well, there's a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us flat one time or other.

Miguel de Cervantes
There are only two families in the world, as a grandmother of mine used to say: the haves and the have-nots.

Miguel de Cervantes
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.

Miguel de Cervantes
As well look for a needle in a bottle of hay.

Miguel de Cervantes
'Tis ill talking of halters in the house of a man that was hanged.

Miguel de Cervantes
History is in a manner a sacred thing, so far as it contains truth; for where truth is, the supreme Father of it may also be said to be, at least, inasmuch as concerns truth.

Miguel de Cervantes
But do not give it to a lawyer's clerk to write, for they use a legal hand that Satan himself will not understand.

Miguel de Cervantes
How will he who does not know how to govern himself know how to govern others?

Miguel de Cervantes
Historians ought to be precise, faithful, and unprejudiced; and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor affection, should make them swerve from the way of truth.

Miguel de Cervantes
Be a terror to the butchers, that they may be fair in their weight; and keep hucksters and fraudulent dealers in awe, for the same reason.

Miguel de Cervantes
Didn't I tell you, Don Quixote, sir, to turn back, for they were not armies you were going to attack, but flocks of sheep?

Miguel de Cervantes
He's [Don Quixote's] a muddled fool, full of lucid intervals.

Miguel de Cervantes
For men may prove and use their friends, as the poet expresses it, usque ad aras, meaning that a friend should not be required to act contrary to the law of God.

Miguel de Cervantes
I never saw a more dreadful battle in my born days.

Miguel de Cervantes
Do not eat garlic or onions; for their smell will reveal that you are a peasant.

Miguel de Cervantes
Experience, the universal Mother of Sciences.

Miguel de Cervantes