Don Quixote quotes

It is impossible to conceive Cervantes giving way to despondency or prostrated by dejection. As for poverty, it was with him a thing to be laughed over, and the only sigh he ever allows to escape him is when he says, “

Happy he to whom Heaven has given a piece of bread for which he is not bound to give thanks to any but Heaven itself.

” Add to all this his vital energy and mental activity, his restless invention and his sanguine temperament, and there will be reason enough to doubt whether his could have been a very unhappy life.

There is something in it for every sort of reader, young or old, sage or simple, high or low. As Cervantes himself says with a touch of pride,

“It is thumbed and read and got by heart by people of all sorts; the children turn its leaves, the young people read it, the grown men understand it, the old folk praise it.”

But it would be idle to deny that the ingredient which, more than its humour, or its wisdom, or the fertility of invention or knowledge of human nature it displays, has insured its success with the multitude, is the vein of farce that runs through …

… the Amadíses and Palmeríns began to grow popular down to the very end of the century, there is a steady stream of invective, from men whose character and position lend weight to their words, against the romances of chivalry and the infatuation of their readers.

Ridicule was the only besom to sweep away that dust.

That this was the task Cervantes set himself, and that he had ample provocation to urge him to it, will be sufficiently clear to those who look into the evidence;

as it will be also that it was not chivalry itself that he attacked and swept away.

Of all the absurdities that, thanks to poetry, will be repeated to the end of time, there is no greater one than saying that “Cervantes smiled Spain’s chivalry away.”

In the first place there was no chivalry for him to smile away. Spain’s chivalry had been dead for more than a century.

Him we owe to the landlord’s chance remark in Chapter III that knights seldom travelled without squires.

To try to think of a Don Quixote without Sancho Panza is like trying to think of a one-bladed pair of scissors.

The story was written at first, like the others, without any division and without the intervention of Cide Hamete Benengeli; and it seems not unlikely that Cervantes had some intention of bringing Dulcinea, or Aldonza Lorenzo, on the scene in person.

a knight-errant was bound to be intrepid, and so he feels bound to cast fear aside. Of all Byron’s melodious nonsense about Don Quixote, the most nonsensical statement is that “ ’tis his virtue makes him mad!”

The exact opposite is the truth; it is his madness makes him virtuous.

In the Second Part, Cervantes repeatedly reminds the reader, as if it was a point upon which he was anxious there should be no mistake, that his hero’s madness is strictly confined to delusions on the subject of chivalry, and that on every other subject …

Even when Uncle Toby is at his best, you are always aware of “the man Sterne” behind him, watching you over his shoulder to see what effect he is producing.

Cervantes always leaves you alone with Don Quixote and Sancho.

He and Swift and the great humourists always keep themselves out of sight, or, more properly speaking, never think about themselves at all, unlike our latter-day school of humourists, who seem to have revived the old horse-collar method, and try to raise a laugh by …

Tranquility, a cheerful retreat, pleasant fields, bright skies, murmuring brooks, peace of mind, these are the things that go far to make even the most barren muses fertile, and bring into the world births that fill it with wonder and delight.

Sometimes when a father has an ugly, loutish son, the love he bears him so blindfolds his eyes that he does not see his defects, or, rather, takes them for gifts and charms of mind and body, and talks of them to his friends as wit and grace.

I, however—for though I pass for the father, I am but the stepfather to Don Quixote—I have no desire to go with the current of custom, or to implore thee, dearest reader, almost with tears in my eyes, as others do, to pardon or excuse …

My wish would be simply to present it to thee plain and unadorned, without any embellishment of preface or uncountable muster of customary sonnets, epigrams, and eulogies, such as are commonly put at the beginning of books.

For I can tell thee, though composing it cost me some labour, I found none greater than the making of this Preface thou art now reading.

Many times did I take up my pen to write it, and many did I lay it down again, not knowing what to write.

but merely to take care that your style and diction run musically, pleasantly, and plainly, with clear, proper, and well-placed words, setting forth your purpose to the best of your power, and putting your ideas intelligibly, without confusion or obscurity.

Strive, too, that in reading your story the melancholy may be moved to laughter, and the merry made merrier still; that the simple shall not be wearied, that the judicious shall admire the invention, that the grave shall not despise it, nor the wise fail to praise it.

Finally, keep your aim fixed on the destruction of that ill-founded edifice of the books of chivalry, hated by some and praised by many more; for if you succeed in this you will have achieved no small success.”

… at him and straining their eyes to make out the features which the clumsy visor obscured, but when they heard themselves called maidens, a thing so much out of their line, they could not restrain their laughter, which made Don Quixote wax indignant, and say,

“Modesty becomes the fair, and moreover laughter that has little cause is great silliness; this, however, I say not to pain or anger you, for my desire is none other than to serve you.”

The incomprehensible language and the unpromising looks of our cavalier only increased the ladies’ laughter, and that increased his irritation, and matters might have gone farther if at that moment the landlord had not come out, who, being a very fat man, was a very …

for there were to be taken into account and deducted three pairs of shoes he had given him, and a real for two blood-lettings when he was sick.

“All that is very well,” said Don Quixote; “but let the shoes and the blood-lettings stand as a setoff against the blows you have given him without any cause; for if he spoiled the leather of the shoes you paid for, you have damaged that of his body, and if the barber took blood from him when he was sick, you have drawn it when he was sound; so on that score he owes you nothing.”

“The difficulty is, Sir Knight, that I have no money here; let Andrés come home with me, and I will pay him all, real by real.”

and when they had come near enough to see and hear, he exclaimed with a haughty gesture, “

All the world stand, unless all the world confess that in all the world there is no maiden fairer than the Empress of La Mancha, the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso.

”

To this the peasant answered, “Señor—sinner that I am!—cannot your worship see that I am not Don Rodrigo de Narváez nor the Marquis of Mantua, but Pedro Alonso your neighbour, and that your worship is neither Baldwin nor Abindarráez, but the worthy gentleman Señor Quixada?”

“I know who I am,” replied Don Quixote, “and I know that I may be not only those I have named, but all the Twelve Peers of France and even all the Nine Worthies, since my achievements surpass all that they have done all together and each of them on his own account.”

With this talk and more of the same kind they reached the village just as night was beginning to fall, but the peasant waited until it was a little later that the belaboured gentleman might not be seen riding in such a miserable trim.

… Tirante fought with the mastiff, and the witticisms of the damsel Placerdemivida, and the loves and wiles of the widow Reposada, and the empress in love with the squire Hipolito—in truth, gossip, by right of its style it is the best book in the world.

Here knights eat and sleep, and die in their beds, and make their wills before dying, and a great deal more of which there is nothing in all the other books.

Nevertheless, I say he who wrote it, for deliberately composing such fooleries, deserves to be sent to the galleys for life. Take it home with you and read it, and you will see that what I have said is true.”

“

That Cervantes has been for many years a great friend of mine, and to my knowledge he has had more experience in reverses than in verses.

His book has some good invention in it, it presents us with something but brings nothing to a conclusion: we must wait for the Second Part it promises:

Sancho hastened to his assistance as fast as his ass could go, and when he came up found him unable to move, with such a shock had Rocinante fallen with him.

“God bless me!” said Sancho, “did I not tell your worship to mind what you were about, for they were only windmills? and no one could have made any mistake about it but one who had something of the same kind in his head.”

“Hush, friend Sancho,” replied Don Quixote, “the fortunes of war more than any other are liable to frequent fluctuations;

“Be that as God will,” said Sancho, “I believe it all as your worship says it; but straighten yourself a little, for you seem all on one side, maybe from the shaking of the fall.”

“That is the truth,” said Don Quixote, “and if I make no complaint of the pain it is because knights-errant are not permitted to complain of any wound, even though their bowels be coming out through it.”

“If so,” said Sancho, “I have nothing to say; but God knows I would rather your worship complained when anything ailed you. For my part, I confess I must complain however small the ache may be;

“If so,” said Sancho, “I have nothing to say; but God knows I would rather your worship complained when anything ailed you.

For my part, I confess I must complain however small the ache may be; unless this rule about not complaining extends to the squires of knights-errant also.

”

“That I grant,” said Don Quixote, “but in this matter of aiding me against knights thou must put a restraint upon thy natural impetuosity.”

“I will do so, I promise you,” answered Sancho, “and will keep this precept as carefully as Sunday.”

While they were thus talking there appeared on the road two friars of the order of St. Benedict, mounted on two dromedaries, for not less tall were the two mules they rode on. They wore travelling spectacles and carried sunshades;

He did so, and passed all the rest of the night in thinking of his lady Dulcinea, in imitation of the lovers of Marcela.

Sancho Panza settled himself between Rocinante and his ass, and slept, not like a lover who had been discarded, but like a man who had been soundly kicked.

… the virtues that specially lend a grace and charm to mind and body, why should she who is loved for her beauty part with it to gratify one who for his pleasure alone strives with all his might and energy to rob her of it?

I was born free, and that I might live in freedom I chose the solitude of the fields; in the trees of the mountains I find society, the clear waters of the brooks are my mirrors, and to the trees and waters I make known my thoughts and charms.

I am a fire afar off, a sword laid aside.

in the trees of the mountains I find society, the clear waters of the brooks are my mirrors, and to the trees and waters I make known my thoughts and charms.

I am a fire afar off, a sword laid aside.

Those whom I have inspired with love by letting them see me, I have by words undeceived, and if their longings live on hope—and I have given none to Chrysostom or to any other—it cannot justly be said that the death of any is my …

“

I count for a hundred,

” replied Don Quixote, and without more words he drew his sword and attacked the Yanguesans and excited and impelled by the example of his master, Sancho did the same;

“

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

” said Don Quixote; “I say so because this little beast may now supply the want of Rocinante, carrying me hence to some castle where I may be cured of my wounds.

“

If they don’t let themselves be seen, they let themselves be felt

,” said Sancho; “if not, let my shoulders speak to the point.”

“

Your worship would make a better preacher than knight-errant,

” said Sancho.

“

How the devil do I know?

” replied Don Quixote.

“

As much as my mother has,

” said Sancho.

“

Well, then, if you are joking I am not,

” replied Don Quixote. “Look here, my lively gentleman, if these, instead of being fulling hammers, had been some perilous adventure, have I not, think you, shown the courage required for the attempt and achievement?

and calling together all the galley slaves, who were now running riot, and had stripped the commissary to the skin, he collected them round him to hear what he had to say, and addressed them as follows: “

To be grateful for benefits received is the part of persons of good birth, and one of the sins most offensive to God is ingratitude

; I say so because, sirs, ye have already seen by manifest proof the benefit ye have received of me;

“

Your worship will take warning as much as I am a Turk

,” returned Sancho; “but, as you say this mischief might have been avoided if you had believed me, believe me now, and a still greater one will be avoided;

“

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

”

and to put the whole thing in a nutshell,

I persuade myself that all I say is as I say, neither more nor less, and I picture her in my imagination as I would have her to be

, as well in beauty as in condition; Helen approaches her not nor does Lucretia come up to her, nor any other of the famous women of times past, Greek, Barbarian, or Latin;

To which Sancho replied, “Write it two or three times there in the book and give it to me, and I will carry it very carefully, because to expect me to keep it in my memory is all nonsense, for

I have such a bad one that I often forget my own name

; but for all that repeat it to me, as I shall like to hear it, for surely it will run as if it was in print.”

… the gems and jewels on her head dress and apparel, surpassed by the rare beauty of her lovely auburn hair that vying with the precious stones and the light of the four torches that stood in the hall shone with a brighter gleam than all.

Oh memory, mortal foe of my peace! why bring before me now the incomparable beauty of that adored enemy of mine?

Were it not better, cruel memory, to remind me and recall what she then did, that stirred by a wrong so glaring I may seek, if not vengeance now, at least to rid myself of life? Be not weary, sirs, of listening to these digressions;

and do not trouble yourselves with urging or pressing upon me what reason suggests as likely to serve for my relief, for it will avail me as much as the medicine prescribed by a wise physician avails the sick man who will not take it.

I have no wish for health without Luscinda; and since it is her pleasure to be another’s, when she is or should be mine, let it be mine to be a prey to misery when I might have enjoyed happiness.

She by her fickleness strove to make my ruin irretrievable; I will strive to gratify her wishes by seeking destruction;

Which treats of the strange and delightful adventure that befell the curate and the barber in the same Sierra.

Happy and fortunate were the times when that most daring knight Don Quixote of La Mancha was sent into the world

;

so then, if you hold my body clasped in your arms, I hold my soul secured by virtuous intentions, very different from yours, as you will see if you attempt to carry them into effect by force.

I am your vassal, but I am not your slave; your nobility neither has nor should have any right to dishonour or degrade my humble birth;

and lowborn peasant as I am, I have my self-respect as much as you, a lord and gentleman:

… a viper’s tongue, what think you has won this kingdom and cut off this giant’s head and made you a marquis (for all this I count as already accomplished and decided), but the might of Dulcinea, employing my arm as the instrument of her achievements?

She fights in me and conquers in me, and I live and breathe in her, and owe my life and being to her.

O whoreson scoundrel, how ungrateful you are, you see yourself raised from the dust of the earth to be a titled lord, and the return you make for so great a benefit is to speak evil of her who has conferred it upon you!”

“Well, well,” said Sancho, “

God is in heaven, and sees all tricks, and will judge who does most harm, I in not speaking right, or your worship in not doing it.

”

There was no necessity for so many words or objurgations, for at the first one Ginés jumped down, and at a like racing speed made off and got clear of them all. Sancho hastened to his Dapple, and embracing him he said, “

How hast thou fared, my blessing, Dapple of my eyes, my comrade?

” all the while kissing him and caressing him as if he were a human being. The ass held his peace, and let himself be kissed and caressed by Sancho without answering a single word.

Sancho hastened to his Dapple, and embracing him he said, “How hast thou fared, my blessing, Dapple of my eyes, my comrade?” all the while kissing him and caressing him as if he were a human being.

The ass held his peace, and let himself be kissed and caressed by Sancho without answering a single word.

They all came up and congratulated him on having found Dapple, Don Quixote especially, who told him that notwithstanding this he would not cancel the order for the three ass-colts, for which Sancho thanked him.

“All I can say is,” said Sancho, “that

I did perceive a little odour, something goaty; it must have been that she was all in a sweat with hard work.

”

… a lady to have many knights-errant in her service, whose thoughts never go beyond serving her for her own sake, and who look for no other reward for their great and true devotion than that she should be willing to accept them as her knights.”

“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.”

“The devil take thee for a clown!” said Don Quixote, “and what shrewd things thou sayest at times! One would think thou hadst studied.”

though for my part, I would rather love and serve him for what he could do.”

“The devil take thee for a clown!” said Don Quixote, “and what shrewd things thou sayest at times! One would think thou hadst studied.”

“In faith, then, I cannot even read.”

At least I can say for myself that when I hear of what furious and terrible blows the knights deliver, I am seized with the longing to do the same, and I would like to be hearing about them night and day.”

“And I just as much,” said the landlady, “because I never have a quiet moment in my house except when you are listening to someone reading; for then you are so taken up that for the time being you forget to scold.”

“That is true,” said Maritornes; “and, faith, I relish hearing these things greatly too, for they are very pretty;

and Jesus! I don’t know what sort of folk they can be, so unfeeling and heartless, that rather than bestow a glance upon a worthy man they leave him to die or go mad.

I don’t know what is the good of such prudery; if it is for honour’s sake, why not marry them? That’s all they want.

”

and then the serpent changed itself into an old ancient man, who told him such things as were never heard. Hold your peace, señor; for if you were to hear this you would go mad with delight.

A couple of figs for your Great Captain and your Diego García!

”

they must be removed, and the brightness of virtue and the beauty of a fair fame must be put before her.

A virtuous woman, too, is like a mirror, of clear shining crystal, liable to be tarnished and dimmed by every breath that touches it.

She must be treated as relics are; adored, not touched. She must be protected and prized as one protects and prizes a fair garden full of roses and flowers, the owner of which allows no one to trespass or pluck a blossom;

they must be removed, and the brightness of virtue and the beauty of a fair fame must be put before her. A virtuous woman, too, is like a mirror, of clear shining crystal, liable to be tarnished and dimmed by every breath that touches it.

She must be treated as relics are; adored, not touched.

She must be protected and prized as one protects and prizes a fair garden full of roses and flowers, the owner of which allows no one to trespass or pluck a blossom;

“

It is commonly said that an army looks ill without its general and a castle without its castellan, and I say that a young married woman looks still worse without her husband unless there are very good reasons for it.

I find myself so ill at ease without you, and so incapable of enduring this separation, that unless you return quickly I shall have to go for relief to my parents’ house, even if I leave yours without a protector;

He wept, he entreated, he promised, he flattered, he importuned, he pretended with so much feeling and apparent sincerity, that he overthrew the virtuous resolves of Camilla and won the triumph he least expected and most longed for.

Camilla yielded, Camilla fell; but what wonder if the friendship of Lothario could not stand firm?

A clear proof to us that the passion of love is to be conquered only by flying from it, and that no one should engage in a struggle with an enemy so mighty; for divine strength is needed to overcome his human power.

Camilla yielded, Camilla fell; but what wonder if the friendship of Lothario could not stand firm?

A clear proof to us that the passion of love is to be conquered only by flying from it, and that no one should engage in a struggle with an enemy so mighty; for divine strength is needed to overcome his human power.

Leonela alone knew of her mistress’s weakness, for the two false friends and new lovers were unable to conceal it.

Lothario commended his purpose, and promised on his own part to aid him in raising a monument so glorious.

And so Anselmo was left the most charmingly hoodwinked man there could be in the world.

He himself, persuaded he was conducting the instrument of his glory, led home by the hand him who had been the utter destruction of his good name; whom Camilla received with averted countenance, though with smiles in her heart.

Now, there can be no doubt that this art and calling surpasses all those that mankind has invented, and is the more deserving of being held in honour in proportion as it is the more exposed to peril.

Away with those who assert that letters have the preeminence over arms; I will tell them, whosoever they may be, that they know not what they say.

For the reason which such persons commonly assign, and upon which they chiefly rest, is, that the labours of the mind are greater than those of the body, and that arms give employment to the body alone;

and if he too falls into the sea that waits for him like an enemy, another and another will succeed him without a moment’s pause between their deaths: courage and daring the greatest that all the chances of war can show.

Happy the blest ages that knew not the dread fury of those devilish engines of artillery, whose inventor I am persuaded is in hell receiving the reward of his diabolical invention

, by which he made it easy for a base and cowardly arm to take the life of a gallant gentleman;

… in imagining the Turks to be invincible on sea—on that day, I say, on which the Ottoman pride and arrogance were broken, among all that were there made happy (for the Christians who died that day were happier than those who remained alive and victorious)

I alone was miserable; for, instead of some naval crown that I might have expected had it been in Roman times, on the night that followed that famous day I found myself with fetters on my feet and manacles on my hands.

It happened in this way:

I know not how to go. I have seen many Christians, but except thyself none has seemed to me to be a gentleman.

I am young and beautiful, and have plenty of money to take with me.

See if thou canst contrive how we may go, and if thou wilt thou shalt be my husband there, and if thou wilt not it will not distress me, for Lela Marien will find me someone to marry me. I myself have written this:

Come now; band, not of officers, but of thieves; footpads with the licence of the Holy Brotherhood; tell me who was the ignoramus who signed a warrant of arrest against such a knight as I am?

Who was he that did not know that knights-errant are independent of all jurisdictions, that their law is their sword, their charter their prowess, and their edicts their will?

Who, I say again, was the fool that knows not that there are no letters patent of nobility that confer such privileges or exemptions as a knight-errant acquires the day he is dubbed a knight, and devotes himself to the arduous calling of chivalry?

“I don’t know what to think,” answered Sancho, “not being as well read as your worship in errant writings; but for all that

I venture to say and swear that these apparitions that are about us are not quite Catholic.

”

Do you think I don’t guess and see the drift of these new enchantments? Well then, I can tell you I know you, for all your face is covered, and I can tell you I am up to you, however you may hide your tricks.

After all, where envy reigns virtue cannot live, and where there is niggardliness there can be no liberality.

Ill betide the devil! if it had not been for your worship my master would be married to the Princess Micomicona this minute, and I should be a count at least;

“I am not with child by anyone,” returned Sancho, “nor am I a man to let myself be got with child, if it was by the King himself.

Though I am poor I am an old Christian, and I owe nothing to nobody, and if I long for an island, other people long for worse.

Each of us is the son of his own works; and being a man I may come to be pope, not to say governor of an island, especially as my master may win so many that he will not know whom to give them to.

“I don’t understand those philosophies,” returned Sancho Panza; “all I know is I would I had the county as soon as I shall know how to govern it; for

I have as much soul as another, and as much body as anyone, and I shall be as much king of my realm as any other of his; and being so I should do as I liked, and doing as I liked I should please myself, and pleasing myself I should be content, and when one is content he has nothing more to desire, and when one has nothing more to desire there is an end of it

; so let the county come, and God be with you, and let us see one another, as one blind man said to the other.”

and so, without any scruples of conscience, I can make a count of Sancho Panza, for he is one of the best squires that ever knight-errant had.”

The canon was astonished at the methodical nonsense (if nonsense be capable of method) that Don Quixote uttered

, at the way in which he had described the adventure of the knight of the lake, at the impression that the deliberate lies of the books he read had made upon him, and lastly he marvelled at the simplicity of Sancho, who desired so …

“That I can well believe,” said the curate, “for

I know already by experience that the woods breed men of learning, and shepherds’ harbour philosophers.

”

… when it spread to distant cities, and even made its way into the halls of royalty and reached the ears of people of every class, who came from all sides to see her as if to see something rare and curious, or some wonder-working image?

Her father watched over her and she watched over herself; for there are no locks, or guards, or bolts that can protect a young girl better than her own modesty.

The wealth of the father and the beauty of the daughter led many neighbours as well as strangers to seek her for a wife;

wherever there is an echo it repeats the name of Leandra; the mountains ring with “Leandra,” “Leandra” murmur the brooks, and

Leandra keeps us all bewildered and bewitched, hoping without hope and fearing without knowing what we fear.

Of all this silly set the one that shows the least and also the most sense is my rival Anselmo, for having so many other things to complain of, he only complains of separation, and to the accompaniment of a rebeck, which he plays admirably, …

“Do your worships think, now, that it is an easy thing to blow up a dog?”—

Does your worship think now, that it is an easy thing to write a book?

And if this story does not suit him, you may, dear reader, tell him this one, which is likewise of a madman and a dog.

“Alas!” exclaimed the niece at this, “may I die if my master does not want to turn knight-errant again;” to which Don Quixote replied, “

A knight-errant I shall die, and let the Turk come down or go up when he likes, and in as strong force as he can, once more I say, God knows what I mean.

” But here the barber said, “I ask your worships to give me leave to tell a short story of something that happened in Seville, which comes so pat to the purpose just now that I should like greatly to tell it.”

To give expression to humour, and write in a strain of graceful pleasantry, is the gift of great geniuses.

The cleverest character in comedy is the clown, for he who would make people take him for a fool, must not be one.

History is in a measure a sacred thing, for it should be true, and where the truth is, there God is; but notwithstanding this, there are some who write and fling books broadcast on the world as if they were fritters.”

To give expression to humour, and write in a strain of graceful pleasantry, is the gift of great geniuses. The cleverest character in comedy is the clown, for he who would make people take him for a fool, must not be one.

History is in a measure a sacred thing, for it should be true, and where the truth is, there God is

; but notwithstanding this, there are some who write and fling books broadcast on the world as if they were fritters.”

for the whacks that were given me in these journeys were to be paid for in money, even if they were valued at no more than four maravedis apiece, another hundred crowns would not pay me for half of them.

Let each look to himself and not try to make out white black, and black white; for each of us is as God made him, aye, and often worse.

”

and how do I know but that in these governments the devil may have prepared some trip for me, to make me lose my footing and fall and knock my grinders out?

Sancho I was born and Sancho I mean to die.

But for all that, if heaven were to make me a fair offer of an island or something else of the kind, without much trouble and without much risk, I am not such a fool as to refuse it;

… haply its author was some sage who is an enemy of mine, he will have put one thing for another, mingling a thousand lies with one truth, and amusing himself by relating transactions which have nothing to do with the sequence of a true history.

O envy, root of all countless evils, and cankerworm of the virtues! All the vices, Sancho, bring some kind of pleasure with them; but envy brings nothing but irritation, bitterness, and rage.

”

From what you have just now sung I gather that yours spring from love, I mean from the love you bear that fair ingrate you named in your lament.”

In the meantime, they had seated themselves together on the hard ground peaceably and sociably, just as if, as soon as day broke, they were not going to break one another’s heads.

“Are you, sir knight, in love perchance?” asked he of the Grove of Don Quixote.

and when he had done drinking let his head fall on one side, and giving a deep sigh, exclaimed, “

Ah, whoreson rogue, how catholic it is!

”

To which Samson replied, “

The difference between the two sorts of madmen is, that he who is so will he nil he, will be one always, while he who is so of his own accord can leave off being one whenever he likes.

”

Seeing this the gentleman asked him, “What are you about, brother? What are these kisses for?”

“Let me kiss,” said Sancho, “for I think your worship is the first saint in the saddle I ever saw all the days of my life.”

“I am no saint,” replied the gentleman, “but a great sinner; but you are, brother, for you must be a good fellow, as your simplicity shows.”

“Is your master then so mad,” asked the gentleman, “that you believe and are afraid he will engage such fierce animals?”

“He is not mad,” said Sancho, “but he is venturesome.”

“I will prevent it,” said the gentleman;

“What dost thou think of this, Sancho?” said Don Quixote. “

Are there any enchantments that can prevail against true valour? The enchanters may be able to rob me of good fortune, but of fortitude and courage they cannot.

”

thus it was my bounden duty to attack those lions that I just now attacked, although I knew it to be the height of rashness; for

I know well what valour is, that it is a virtue that occupies a place between two vicious extremes, cowardice and temerity

; but it will be a lesser evil for him who is valiant to rise till he reaches the point of rashness, than to sink until he reaches the point of cowardice;

Is there any need to say that Don Lorenzo enjoyed hearing himself praised by Don Quixote, albeit he looked upon him as a madman?

Power of flattery, how far-reaching art thou, and how wide are the bounds of thy pleasant jurisdiction!

Don Lorenzo gave a proof of it, for he complied with Don Quixote’s request and entreaty, and repeated to him this sonnet on the fable or story of Pyramus and Thisbe.

… rest, nor doth this world’s empty pomp disturb thee, for the utmost reach of thy anxiety is to provide for thy ass, since upon my shoulders thou hast laid the support of thyself, the counterpoise and burden that nature and custom have imposed upon masters.

The servant sleeps and the master lies awake thinking how he is to feed him, advance him, and reward him.

The distress of seeing the sky turn brazen, and withhold its needful moisture from the earth, is not felt by the servant but by the master, who in time of scarcity and famine must support him who has served him in times of plenty and …

Talents and accomplishments that can’t be turned into money, let Count Dirlos have them; but when such gifts fall to one that has hard cash, I wish my condition of life was as becoming as they are.

On a good foundation you can raise a good building, and the best foundation in the world is money.

”

As much as thou hast so much art thou worth, and as much as thou art worth so much hast thou.

As a grandmother of mine used to say, there are only two families in the world, the Haves and the Haven’ts

; and she stuck to the Haves; and to this day, Señor Don Quixote, people would sooner feel the pulse of ‘Have,’ than of ‘Know;’ an ass covered with gold looks better than a horse with a packsaddle.

… replied Sancho, “there’s no trusting that fleshless one, I mean Death, who devours the lamb as soon as the sheep, and, as I have heard our curate say, treads with equal foot upon the lofty towers of kings and the lowly huts of the poor.

That lady is more mighty than dainty, she is no way squeamish, she devours all and is ready for all, and fills her alforjas with people of all sorts, ages, and ranks.

She is no reaper that sleeps out the noontide; at all times she is reaping and cutting down, as well the dry grass as the green;

All the bystanders were astounded, and some, more simple than inquiring, began shouting, “A miracle, a miracle!” But Basilio replied,

“No miracle, no miracle; only a trick, a trick!”

The priest, perplexed and amazed, made haste to examine the wound with both hands, and found that the blade had passed, not through Basilio’s flesh and ribs, but through a hollow iron tube full of blood, which he had adroitly fixed at the place, the …

“Look here, señor,” said Sancho, “don’t give yourself any trouble about it, for I have just this minute hit upon what I asked you.

The first tumbler in the world, you must know, was Lucifer, when they cast or pitched him out of heaven; for he came tumbling into the bottomless pit.

”

“Hold your peace, señor,” said Sancho; “faith, if I take to asking questions and answering, I’ll go on from this till tomorrow morning.

Nay! to ask foolish things and answer nonsense I needn’t go looking for help from my neighbours.

”

When, however, they had come to, as it seemed, rather more than eighty fathoms they felt a weight, at which they were greatly delighted; and at last, at ten fathoms more, they saw Don Quixote distinctly, and Sancho called out to him, saying, “

Welcome back, señor, for we had begun to think you were going to stop there to found a family.

” But Don Quixote answered not a word, and drawing him out entirely they perceived he had his eyes shut and every appearance of being fast asleep.

and according to Terence, a soldier shows better dead in battle, than alive and safe in flight; and the good soldier wins fame in proportion as he is obedient to his captains and those in command over him.

And remember, my son, that it is better for the soldier to smell of gunpowder than of civet

, and that if old age should come upon you in this honourable calling, though you may be covered with wounds and crippled and lame, it will not come upon you without honour, and that such as poverty cannot lessen;

In this way, doubling the brays at every step, they made the complete circuit of the forest, but the lost ass never gave them an answer or even the sign of one.

How could the poor ill-starred brute have answered, when, in the thickest part of the forest, they found him devoured by wolves?

As soon as he saw him his owner said, ‘I was wondering he did not answer, for if he wasn’t dead he’d have brayed when he heard us, or he’d have been no ass;

and all through the reckless fury of sir knight here, who, they say, protects the fatherless, and rights wrongs, and does other charitable deeds; but whose generous intentions have been found wanting in my case only, blessed and praised be the highest heavens!

Verily, knight of the rueful figure he must be to have disfigured mine.

”

Of matters that Benengeli says he who reads them will know, if he reads them with attention.

When the brave man flees, treachery is manifest and it is for wise men to reserve themselves for better occasions.

This proved to be the case with Don Quixote, who, giving way before the fury of the townsfolk and the hostile intentions of the angry troop, took to flight and, without a thought of Sancho or the danger in which he was leaving him, retreated …

Body o’ me! is the cause of my soreness such a mystery that there’s any need to tell me I am sore everywhere the staff hit me?

If it was my ankles that pained me there might be something in going divining why they did, but it is not much to divine that I’m sore where they thrashed me.

By my faith, master mine, the ills of others hang by a hair; every day I am discovering more and more how little I have to hope for from keeping company with your worship;

Thou art going now when I had a firm and fixed intention of making thee lord of the best island in the world? Well, as thou thyself hast said before now, honey is not for the mouth of the ass.

Ass thou art, ass thou wilt be, and ass thou wilt end when the course of thy life is run; for I know it will come to its close before thou dost perceive or discern that thou art a beast.

”

Sancho regarded Don Quixote earnestly while he was giving him this rating, and was so touched by remorse that the tears came to his eyes, and in a piteous and broken voice he said to him, “

Master mine, I confess that, to be a complete ass, all I want is a tail; if your worship will only fix one on to me, I’ll look on it as rightly placed, and I’ll serve you as an ass all the remaining days of my life.

Forgive me and have pity on my folly, and remember I know but little, and, if I talk much, it’s more from infirmity than malice; but he who sins and mends commends himself to God.”

So saying he settled with the fishermen, and paid fifty reals for the boat, which Sancho handed to them very much against the grain, saying, “

With a couple more bark businesses like this we shall have sunk our whole capital.

”

and coming to the conclusion that they were madmen, they left them and betook themselves, the millers to their mills, and the fishermen to their huts.

Don Quixote and Sancho returned to their beasts, and to their life of beasts, and so ended the adventure of the enchanted bark.

but I care not a farthing if clerks who have never entered upon or trod the paths of chivalry should think me foolish.

Knight I am, and knight I will die, if such be the pleasure of the Most High.

Some take the broad road of overweening ambition; others that of mean and servile flattery; others that of deceitful hypocrisy, and some that of true religion;

“There is a good deal to be said on that point,” said Don Quixote; “

God knows whether there be any Dulcinea or not in the world, or whether she is imaginary or not imaginary; these are things the proof of which must not be pushed to extreme lengths.

I have not begotten nor given birth to my lady, though I behold her as she needs must be, a lady who contains in herself all the qualities to make her famous throughout the world, beautiful without blemish, dignified without haughtiness, tender and yet modest, …

“Indeed, señora,” said Sancho, “

I never yet drank out of wickedness; from thirst I have very likely, for I have nothing of the hypocrite in me

; I drink when I’m inclined, or, if I’m not inclined, when they offer it to me, so as not to look either straitlaced or ill-bred; for when a friend drinks one’s health what heart can be so hard as not to return it?

I mean to say that if God gives me help and I do my duty honestly, no doubt I’ll govern better than a gerfalcon.

Nay, let them only put a finger in my mouth, and they’ll see whether I can bite or not.

”

and said he to the duchess, from whom he did not stir a step, or for a single instant, “

Señora, where there’s music there can’t be mischief.

”

“Not a hand, my own or anybody else’s, weighty or weighable, shall touch me,” said Sancho. “

Was it I that gave birth to the lady Dulcinea del Toboso, that my backside is to pay for the sins of her eyes?

My master, indeed, that’s a part of her—for, he’s always calling her ‘my life’ and ‘my soul,’ and his stay and prop—may and ought to whip himself for her and take all the trouble required for her disenchantment. But for me to whip myself! Abernuncio!”

“

There are a great many doctors in the world; even the enchanters are doctors

,” said Sancho;

To which Sancho replied, “

Ever since I have sniffed the governorship I have got rid of the humours of a squire

, and I don’t care a wild fig for all the duennas in the world.”

“Are there alguacils of the court in Kandy, too,” said Sancho at this, “and poets, and seguidillas?

I swear I think the world is the same all over!

But make haste, Señora Trifaldi; for it is late, and I am dying to know the end of this long story.”

Here Sancho exclaimed, “

I don’t mount, for neither have I the heart nor am I a knight.

”

and if this shaving can’t be done without my mounting on the croup, my master had better look out for another squire to go with him, and these ladies for some other way of making their faces smooth;

I’m no witch to have a taste for travelling through the air.

What would my islanders say when they heard their governor was going, strolling about on the winds?

but Don Quixote, coming close to his ear, said to him, “

Sancho, as you would have us believe what you saw in heaven, I require you to believe me as to what I saw in the cave of Montesinos; I say no more.

”

“

Glory in thy humble birth, Sancho, and be not ashamed of saying thou art peasant-born; for when it is seen thou art not ashamed no one will set himself to put thee to the blush

; and pride thyself rather upon being one of lowly virtue than a lofty sinner.

“

Let the tears of the poor man find with thee more compassion, but not more justice, than the pleadings of the rich.

“Strive to lay bare the truth, as well amid the promises and presents of the rich man, as amid the sobs and entreaties of the poor.

“

Strive to lay bare the truth, as well amid the promises and presents of the rich man, as amid the sobs and entreaties of the poor.

“When equity may and should be brought into play, press not the utmost rigour of the law against the guilty; for the reputation of the stern judge stands not higher than that of the compassionate.

“

Be temperate in drinking, bearing in mind that wine in excess keeps neither secrets nor promises.

“Take care, Sancho, not to chew on both sides, and not to eruct in anybody’s presence.”

“God alone can cure that,” said Sancho; “for

I have more proverbs in me than a book, and when I speak they come so thick together into my mouth that they fall to fighting among themselves to get out

; that’s why my tongue lets fly the first that come, though they may not be pat to the purpose. But I’ll take care henceforward to use such as befit the dignity of my office;

“By God, master mine,” said Sancho, “your worship is making a fuss about very little. Why the devil should you be vexed if I make use of what is my own? And

I have got nothing else, nor any other stock in trade except proverbs and more proverbs

; and here are three just this instant come into my head, pat to the purpose and like pears in a basket; but I won’t repeat them, for ‘sage silence is called Sancho.’ ”

“Señor,” said Sancho, “if your worship thinks I’m not fit for this government, I give it up on the spot; for the mere black of the nail of my soul is dearer to me than my whole body; and

I can live just as well, simple Sancho, on bread and onions, as governor, on partridges and capons

; and what’s more, while we’re asleep we’re all equal, great and small, rich and poor. But if your worship looks into it, you will see it was your worship alone that put me on to this business of governing;

for I know no more about the government of islands than a buzzard; and if there’s any reason to think that because of my being a governor the devil will get hold of me,

I’d rather go Sancho to heaven than governor to hell.

”

“By God, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “for those last words thou hast uttered alone, I consider thou deservest to be governor of a thousand islands.

Thou hast good natural instincts, without which no knowledge is worth anything

; commend thyself to God, and try not to swerve in the pursuit of thy main object; I mean, always make it thy aim and fixed purpose to do right in all matters that come before thee, for heaven always helps good intentions;

Ye love-smitten host, know that to Dulcinea only I am dough and sugar-paste, flint to all others; for her I am honey, for you aloes. For me Dulcinea alone is beautiful, wise, virtuous, graceful, and highbred, and all others are ill-favoured, foolish, light, and lowborn.

Nature sent me into the world to be hers and no other’s;

Altisidora may weep or sing, the lady for whose sake they belaboured me in the castle of the enchanted Moor may give way to despair, but I must be Dulcinea’s, boiled or roast, pure, courteous, and chaste, in spite of all the magic-working powers on …

Upon this the governor said to the woman, “Let me see that purse, my worthy and sturdy friend.” She handed it to him at once, and the governor returned it to the man, and said to the unforced mistress of force, “

Sister, if you had shown as much, or only half as much, spirit and vigour in defending your body as you have shown in defending that purse, the strength of Hercules could not have forced you.

Be off, and God speed you, and bad luck to you, and don’t show your face in all this island, or within six leagues of it on any side, under pain of two hundred lashes; be off at once, I say, you shameless, cheating shrew.”

To this the physician replied, “

Of those my lord the governor shall not eat so long as I live.

”

And if they call me to account for it, I’ll clear myself by saying I served God in killing a bad doctor—a general executioner.

And now give me something to eat, or else take your government; for a trade that does not feed its master is not worth two beans.

”

… worship, entirely without learning (for I believe you have none at all), say such things, and so full of sound maxims and sage remarks, very different from what was expected of your worship’s intelligence by those who sent us or by us who came here.

Every day we see something new in this world; jokes become realities, and the jokers find the tables turned upon them.

”

The spring succeeds the summer, the summer the fall, the fall the autumn, the autumn the winter, and the winter the spring, and so time rolls with never-ceasing wheel.

Man’s life alone, swifter than time, speeds onward to its end without any hope of renewal, save it be in that other life which is endless and boundless.

Thus saith Cide Hamete the Muhammadan philosopher;

In short it was with just cause that we were visited with the penalty of banishment, a mild and lenient one in the eyes of some, but to us the most terrible that could be inflicted upon us.

Wherever we are we weep for Spain; for after all we were born there and it is our natural fatherland.

Nowhere do we find the reception our unhappy condition needs; and in Barbary and all the parts of Africa where we counted upon being received, succoured, and welcomed, it is there they insult and ill-treat us most.

keep a safe conscience and let them say what they like; for trying to stop slanderers’ tongues is like trying to put gates to the open plain.

If a governor comes out of his government rich, they say he has been a thief; and if he comes out poor, that he has been a noodle and a blockhead.

”

for the sense of being under an obligation to return benefits and favours received is a restraint that checks the independence of the spirit.

Happy he, to whom heaven has given a piece of bread for which he is not bound to give thanks to any but heaven itself!

”

When Don Quixote saw himself in open country, free, and relieved from the attentions of Altisidora, he felt at his ease, and in fresh spirits to take up the pursuit of chivalry once more; and turning to Sancho he said, “

Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has bestowed upon men; no treasures that the earth holds buried or the sea conceals can compare with it; for freedom, as for honour, life may and should be ventured; and on the other hand, captivity is the greatest evil that can fall to the lot of man.

I say this, Sancho, because thou hast seen the good cheer, the abundance we have enjoyed in this castle we are leaving;

“Eat, Sancho my friend,” said Don Quixote; “support life, which is of more consequence to thee than to me, and leave me to die under the pain of my thoughts and pressure of my misfortunes.

I was born, Sancho, to live dying, and thou to die eating;

and to prove the truth of what I say, look at me, printed in histories, famed in arms, courteous in behaviour, honoured by princes, courted by maidens;

Exceedingly great was the amusement the two gentlemen derived from hearing Don Quixote recount the strange incidents of his history; and if they were amazed by his absurdities they were equally amazed by the elegant style in which he delivered them.

On the one hand they regarded him as a man of wit and sense, and on the other he seemed to them a maundering blockhead, and they could not make up their minds whereabouts between wisdom and folly they ought to place him.

Sancho having finished his supper, and left the landlord in the X condition, repaired to the room where his master was, and as he came in said, “May I die, sirs, if the author of this book your worships have got has any mind that …

and they felt thoroughly convinced that these, and not those their Aragonese author described, were the genuine Don Quixote and Sancho. Don Quixote rose betimes, and bade adieu to his hosts by knocking at the partition of the other room.

Sancho paid the landlord magnificently, and recommended him either to say less about the providing of his inn or to keep it better provided.

“Cruel, reckless woman!” she cried, “how easily wert thou moved to carry out a thought so wicked!

O furious force of jealousy, to what desperate lengths dost thou lead those that give thee lodging in their bosoms!

O husband, whose unhappy fate in being mine hath borne thee from the marriage bed to the grave!”

Upon this Sancho remarked, “

From what I have seen here, justice is such a good thing that there is no doing without it, even among the thieves themselves.

”

Don Quixote was amazed to hear Roque utter such excellent and just sentiments, for he did not think that among those who followed such trades as robbing, murdering, and waylaying, there could be anyone capable of a virtuous thought, and he said in reply, “

Señor Roque, the beginning of health lies in knowing the disease and in the sick man’s willingness to take the medicines which the physician prescribes

; you are sick, you know what ails you, and heaven, or more properly speaking God, who is our physician, will administer medicines that will cure you, and cure gradually, and not of a sudden or by a miracle;

The bright sea, the smiling earth, the clear air—though at times darkened by the smoke of the guns—all seemed to fill the whole multitude with unexpected delight.

Sancho could not make out how it was that those great masses that moved over the sea had so many feet.

And now the horsemen in livery came galloping up with shouts and outlandish cries and cheers to where Don Quixote stood amazed and wondering;

“Ay,” said Sancho, “and of an island called Barataria.

I governed it to perfection for ten days; and lost my rest all the time; and learned to look down upon all the governments in the world

; I got out of it by taking to flight, and fell into a pit where I gave myself up for dead, and out of which I escaped alive by a miracle.”

These two were so indefatigable in taking Don Quixote out to dance that they tired him down, not only in body but in spirit.

It was a sight to see the figure Don Quixote made, long, lank, lean, and yellow, his garments clinging tight to him, ungainly, and above all anything but agile.

The gay ladies made secret love to him, and he on his part secretly repelled them, but finding himself hard pressed by their blandishments he lifted up his voice and exclaimed, “Fugite, partes adversae! Leave me in peace, unwelcome overtures;

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.

”

“Tell me, dog,” said the general, “what led thee to kill my soldiers, when thou sawest it was impossible for thee to escape? Is that the way to behave to chief galleys?

Knowest thou not that rashness is not valour? Faint prospects of success should make men bold, but not rash.

”

My daughter I did not find, the treasure I found and have with me; and now, in this strange roundabout way you have seen,

I find the treasure that more than all makes me rich, my beloved daughter.

If our innocence and her tears and mine can with strict justice open the door to clemency, extend it to us, for we never had any intention of injuring you, nor do we sympathise with the aims of our people, who have been justly banished.”

“O señor,” said Don Antonio, “may God forgive you the wrong you have done the whole world in trying to bring the most amusing madman in it back to his senses.

Do you not see, señor, that the gain by Don Quixote’s sanity can never equal the enjoyment his crazes give?

But my belief is that all the señor bachelor’s pains will be of no avail to bring a man so hopelessly cracked to his senses again;

“May God hear it and sin be deaf,” said Sancho; “

I have always heard say that ‘a good hope is better than a bad holding.’

”

Ricote and his daughter came out to welcome him, the father with tears, the daughter with bashfulness.

They did not embrace each other, for where there is deep love there will never be overmuch boldness.

Seen side by side, the comeliness of Don Gregorio and the beauty of Ana Félix were the admiration of all who were present.

They did not embrace each other, for where there is deep love there will never be overmuch boldness. Seen side by side, the comeliness of Don Gregorio and the beauty of Ana Félix were the admiration of all who were present.

It was silence that spoke for the lovers at that moment, and their eyes were the tongues that declared their pure and happy feelings.

The renegade explained the measures and means he had adopted to rescue Don Gregorio, and Don Gregorio at no great length, but in a few words, in which he showed that his intelligence was in advance of his years, described the peril and embarrassment he …

“Look ye, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “there is a great difference between what is done out of love and what is done out of gratitude.

A knight may very possibly be proof against love; but it is impossible, strictly speaking, for him to be ungrateful.

Altisidora, to all appearance, loved me truly; she gave me the three kerchiefs thou knowest of; she wept at my departure, she cursed me, she abused me, casting shame to the winds she bewailed herself in public; all signs that she adored me;

Nicholas the barber may call himself Niculoso, as old Boscan formerly was called Nemoroso; as for the curate I don’t know what name we can fit to him unless it be something derived from his title, and we call him the shepherd Curiambro.

For the shepherdesses whose lovers we shall be, we can pick names as we would pears

; and as my lady’s name does just as well for a shepherdess’s as for a princess’s, I need not trouble myself to look for one that will suit her better; to thine, Sancho, thou canst give what name thou wilt.”

To this Sancho made answer, “I am so unlucky, señor, that I’m afraid the day will never come when I’ll see myself at such a calling.

O what neat spoons I’ll make when I’m a shepherd!

What messes, creams, garlands, pastoral odds and ends! And if they don’t get me a name for wisdom, they’ll not fail to get me one for ingenuity. My daughter Sanchica will bring us our dinner to the pasture.

“It seems to me,” said Sancho, “that your worship is like the common saying, ‘Said the frying-pan to the kettle, Get away, blackbreech.’

You chide me for uttering proverbs, and you string them in couples yourself.

”

Don Quixote’s cares kept him restless, so much so that he awoke Sancho and said to him, “I am amazed, Sancho, at the unconcern of thy temperament. I believe thou art made of marble or hard brass, incapable of any emotion or feeling whatever.

I lie awake while thou sleepest, I weep while thou singest, I am faint with fasting while thou art sluggish and torpid from pure repletion.

It is the duty of good servants to share the sufferings and feel the sorrows of their masters, if it be only for the sake of appearances.

Don Quixote stood up and laid his hand upon his sword, and Sancho ensconced himself under Dapple and put the bundle of armour on one side of him and the ass’s packsaddle on the other, in fear and trembling as great as Don Quixote’s perturbation.

Each instant the noise increased and came nearer to the two terrified men, or at least to one, for as to the other, his courage is known to all.

The fact of the matter was that some men were taking above six hundred pigs to sell at a fair, and were on their way with them at that hour, and so great was the noise they made and their grunting and blowing, that they …

If we squires were the sons of the knights we serve, or their very near relations, it would be no wonder if the penalty of their misdeeds overtook us, even to the fourth generation.

But what have the Panzas to do with the Quixotes?

Well, well, let’s lie down again and sleep out what little of the night there’s left, and God will send us dawn and we shall be all right.”

‘Out of this with it,’ said the first, ‘and into the depths of hell with it out of my sight.’ ‘Is it so bad?’ said the other.

‘So bad is it,’ said the first, ‘that if I had set myself deliberately to make a worse, I could not have done it.’

They then went on with their game, knocking other books about; and I, having heard them mention the name of Don Quixote whom I love and adore so, took care to retain this vision in my memory.”

I am not disturbed by hearing that I am wandering in a fantastic shape in the darkness of the pit or in the daylight above, for I am not the one that history treats of.

If it should be good, faithful, and true, it will have ages of life; but if it should be bad, from its birth to its burial will not be a very long journey.

”

Don Stockfish, soul of a mortar, stone of a date, more obstinate and obdurate than a clown asked a favour when he has his mind made up, if I fall upon you I’ll tear your eyes out!

Do you fancy, Don Vanquished, Don Cudgelled, that I died for your sake?

All that you have seen tonight has been make-believe; I’m not the woman to let the black of my nail suffer for such a camel, much less die!”

“And mine,” added Sancho; “for

I never in all my life saw a lace-maker that died for love

; when damsels are at work their minds are more set on finishing their tasks than on thinking of their loves. I speak from my own experience; for when I’m digging I never think of my old woman;

“In that case,” said Sancho, “in God’s hand be it, and let it rain lashes.”

But the rogue no longer laid them on his shoulders, but laid on to the trees, with such groans every now and then, that one would have thought at each of them his soul was being plucked up by the roots.

Don Quixote, touched to the heart, and fearing he might make an end of himself, and that through Sancho’s imprudence he might miss his own object, said to him, “As thou livest, my friend, let the matter rest where it is, for the remedy seems …

“I don’t know what bad luck it is of mine,” said Sancho, “but

I can’t utter a word without a proverb, or a proverb that is not as good as an argument to my mind

; however, I mean to mend if I can;” and so for the present the conversation ended.

“By God I believe it,” said Don Álvaro; “for you have uttered more drolleries, my friend, in the few words you have spoken than the other Sancho Panza in all I ever heard from him, and they were not a few.

He was more greedy than well-spoken, and more dull than droll

; and I am convinced that the enchanters who persecute Don Quixote the Good have been trying to persecute me with Don Quixote the Bad.

Open thine arms and receive, too, thy son Don Quixote, who, if he comes vanquished by the arm of another, comes victor over himself, which, as he himself has told me, is the greatest victory anyone can desire.

I’m bringing back money, for if I was well whipped, I went mounted like a gentleman.

”

Not you; for that’s a life and a business for hardy men, bred and seasoned to such work almost from the time they were in swaddling-clothes.

Why, to make choice of evils, it’s better to be a knight-errant than a shepherd!

Look here, señor;