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Cervantes Quotes

Browse 35 quotes about Cervantes.

Cervantes Quotes

“While it would be too reductive (but not wrong) to say Cervantes equates knight-errantry with religious belief, he does seem to insinuate a syllogism that goes: Chivalric novels are false; the Bible resembles those novels; therefore, the Bible is false. But Cervantes gleefully complicates matters by insisting repeatedly that Don Quixote is true, which he and everyone who reads it knows is untrue.”

BibleCervantesDon Quixote
Book:The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600-1800
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“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"—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 the defects thou wilt perceive in this child of mine. Thou art neither its kinsman nor its friend, thy soul is thine own and thy will as free as any man's, whate'er he be, thou art in thine own house and master of it as much as the king of his taxes and thou knowest the common saying, "Under my cloak I kill the king;" all which exempts and frees thee from every consideration and obligation, and thou canst say what thou wilt of the story without fear of being abused for any ill or rewarded for any good thou mayest say of it.”

OpinionHumourMannersCensorshipFreedom Of SpeechFreedom Of ExpressionCervantesJohn OrmsbyOld TranslationsSocietal Conventions
Book:Don Quixote
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“Every novel says to the reader: “Things are not as simple as you think.” That is the novel’s eternal truth, but it grows steadily harder to hear amid the din of easy, quick answers that come faster than the question and block it off. In the spirit of our time, it’s either Anna or Karenin who is right, and the ancient wisdom of Cervantes, telling us about the difficulty of knowing and the elusiveness of truth, seems cumbersome and useless.”

ExistentialismModernismEpistemologyTolstoyCervantes
Book:The Art of the Novel
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“—¡Válame Dios —dijo el cura, dando una gran voz—, que aquí esté Tirante el Blanco! Dádmele acá, compadre, que hago cuenta que he hallado en él un tesoro de contento y una mina de pasatiempos. Aquí está don Quirieleisón de Montalbán, valeroso caballero, y su hermano Tomás de Montalbán, y el caballero Fonseca, con la batalla que el valiente de Tirante hizo con el alano, y las agudezas de la doncella Placerdemivida, con los amores y embustes de la viuda Reposada, y la señora Emperatriz, enamorada de Hipólito, su escudero. Dígoos verdad, señor compadre, que por su estilo es este el mejor libro del mundo: aquí comen los caballeros, y duermen y mueren en sus camas, y hacen testamento antes de su muerte, con estas cosas de que todos los demás libros deste género carecen. Con todo eso, os digo que merecía el que le compuso, pues no hizo tantas necedades de industria, que le echaran a galeras por todos los días de su vida. Llevadle a casa y leedle, y veréis que es verdad cuanto dél os he dicho.”

EspañolSpanishCervantesQuijoteDon QuijoteQuixoteDon Quijote De La ManchaTirant Lo BlanchTirante El Blanco
Book:Don Quixote
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“O Don Quixote, wise as thou art brave, La Mancha's splendor and of Spain the star! To thee I say that if the peerless maid, Dulcinea del Toboso, is to be restored to the state that was once hers, it needs must be that thy squire Sancho take on his bared behind, those sturdy buttocks, must consent to take three thousand lashes and three hundred more, and well laid on, that they may sting and smart; for those are the authors of her woe have thus resolved, and that is why I've come, This, gentles, is the word I bring to you.”

VerseCervantesTranslated
Book:Don Quixote
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“As you know, I have wealth of my own and do not desire anyone else's; I am free and do not care to submit to another; I do not love or despise anyone. I do not deceive this one or solicit that one; I do not mock one or amuse myself with another. The honest conversation of the shepherdesses from these hamlets, and tending to my goats, are my entertainment. The limits of my desires are these mountains, and if they go beyond here, it is to contemplate the beauty of heaven and the steps whereby the soul travels to its first home.”

CervantesDon QuixoteDon QuijoteMarcela
Book:Don Quixote
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“En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor. Una olla de algo más vaca que carnero, salpicón las más noches, duelos y quebrantos los sábados, lentejas los viernes, algún palomino de añadidura los domingos, conmuían las tres partes de su hacienda. El resto della concluían sayo de velarte, calzas de velludo para las fiestas, con sus pantuflos de los mesmo, y los días de entresemana se honraba con su vellorí de lo más fino.”

OpeningBeginningEspañolSpanishEspañaCervantesQuijoteComienzoInicio
Book:Don Quijote de la Mancha
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“Senyorlar, izin verin de geçeyim, valiliği bırakıp eskiden olduğu gibi, özgürlüğüme geri dönüyorum. Çünkü bir insan mutlu olmak istiyorsa, özgür olmalıdır. Şunu anladım ki ne valilik yapabilirim ne de adayı savunabilirim, bu işler için yaratılmamışım. Yasalar koyup düzeni sağlamak, savunma planları hazırlamaktan çok, ekin ekmeyi, toprak bellemeyi ve asma budamayı beceririm. Çapayı valilik asasından daha iyi kullanırım. Ayrıca çeşit çeşit lezzetli yemek yemek için saygısız bir doktordan izin almaktansa, istediğim zaman ve dilediğim gibi kuru ekmek yemeyi tercih ederim. Bir köylünün gönül rahatlığıyla içtiği çorba sizin yemeklerinizden iyidir. Yaz sıcağında hiçbir şey düşünmeden gölgede uyumayı, adayı yönetmek sorunlarıyla dolu bir kafayla, keten çarşaflar ve ipekli örtülerle hazırlanmış lüks bir karyolada geceyi göz kırpmadan geçirmeye tercih ederim. " "Sevgili Sancho, Tanrı tarafından insanlara bahşedilmiş en büyük nimet, hiç şüphesiz özgürlük. Dünyada kazanılan hiçbir servet, insanların uğrunda can verdiği özgürlüklerle kıyaslanamaz...Özgürlüğün en büyük düşmanı esarettir. Dük hazretlerinin şatosundaki bolluk ve refahı, şerefimize çekilen o muhteşem ziyafetleri, bize gösterilen saygıyı gördün. ama bütün bunlara rağmen kendimi rahat hissetmiyordum; çünkü gördüğümüz iyilikler serbestçe hareket etmemize engel olan bir bağdır. Kuru ekmekten başka bir şeyi olmayıp da yalnız Tanrı'ya karşı minnettar olan bir kişi daha mutlu olur." dedi.”

CervantesSancho PanzaDon Kişot
Book:Don Kişot
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“And so, let it be said that this aforementioned gentleman spent his times of leisure --which meant most of the year-- reading books of chivalry with so much devotion and enthusiasm that he forgot almost completely about the hunt and even about the administration of his estate; and in his rash curiosity and folly he went so far as to sell acres of arable land in order to buy books of chivalry to read, and he brought as many of them as he could into his house...”

ReadingBooksCervantesDon Quixote
Book:Don Quijote
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“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.”

WomenAmorLibertadSpanishMujerBellezaEspañaCervantesQuijoteHermosura
Book:Don Quijote de la Mancha I
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“Antonio Olalla, me has dado indicio que tienes de bronce el alma y el blanco pecho de risco. Mas allá entre tus reproches y honestísimos desvíos, tal vez la esperanza muestra la orilla de su vestido. Abalánzase al señuelo mi fe, que nunca ha podido, ni menguar por no llamado, ni crecer por escogido. Si el amor es cortesía, de la que tienes colijo que el fin de mis esperanzas ha de ser cual imagino. Y si son servicios parte de hacer un pecho benigno, algunos de los que he hecho fortalecen mi partido. Porque si has mirado en ello, más de una vez habrás visto que me he vestido en los lunes lo que me honraba el domingo. Como el amor y la gala andan un mesmo camino, en todo tiempo a tus ojos quise mostrarme polido. Dejo el bailar por tu causa, ni las músicas te pinto que has escuchado a deshoras y al canto del gallo primo. No cuento las alabanzas que de tu belleza he dicho; que, aunque verdaderas, hacen ser yo de algunas malquisto. Teresa del Berrocal, yo alabándote, me dijo: \'\'Tal piensa que adora a un ángel, y viene a adorar a un jimio; merced a los muchos dijes 87 y a los cabellos postizos, y a hipócritas hermosuras, que engañan al Amor mismo\'\'. Desmentíla y enojóse; volvió por ella su primo: desafióme, y ya sabes lo que yo hice y él hizo. No te quiero yo a montón, ni te pretendo y te sirvo por lo de barraganía; que más bueno es mi designio. Coyundas tiene la Iglesia que son lazadas de sirgo; pon tú el cuello en la gamella; verás como pongo el mío. Donde no, desde aquí juro, por el santo más bendito, de no salir destas sierras sino para capuchino.”

CervantesDeSaavedraMiguel
Book:Don Quixote
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“[He] looked exactly like Michael's idea of Don Quixote, 'the luminary and mirror of all knight-errantry', and for that gentle and melancholy knight Michael had always had the greatest affection. Indeed, he was almost his favourite character in literature . . . And he had been created by a man in prison . . . The thought of the great Cervantes, 'the maimed perfection', and of his sufferings so triumphantly endured, was one of the things that had helped to keep him sane many times, he imagined. He was young enough to believe that men go mad, that men die, more easily than in fact they do. He put the point where endurance is no longer possible at a reasonable distance along the way, not at that distant point where John could have told him that it does in fact exist.”

InspirationalCervantesDon QuixoteElizabeth Goudge
Book:The Rosemary Tree
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“A partir de 1789, resulta claro que la posición relativa del gobernante y su gobernado ya no será nunca la misma, ni siquiera en el caso de monarquías reincidentes; tampoco puede ser la misma, como es apenase vidente, la palabra que intente nombrar esa relación.La posición del hombre corriente en el mundo es otra: si Cervantes escribe en un mundo donde Dios ya no está donde estaba antes —si escribe precisamente porque Dios ya no está donde estaba antes—, si aquella novela fundadora se impregna de la incertidumbre profunda y el espíritu de duda que invaden nuestra visión de un mundo sin certezas divinas, una convulsión similar ocurre a partir de la Revolución francesa.”

DiosReligiónCervantesRevolución Francesa
Book:Viajes con un mapa en blanco
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