Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Quotes

You cannot eat your cake and have your cake: And store’s no sore.[translation by John Willis Clark]Giving and keeping require brains.[translation by John Ormsby][Y el dar y el tener, seso ha menester.]

When the head aches, all the members partake of the pain.[translation by John Willis Clark]When the head suffers all the members suffer.[translation by John Ormsby][Que cuando la cabeza duele, todos los miembros duelen.]

Virtue is more zealously persecuted by ill men than it is beloved by the good.[translation by John Willis Clark]Virtue is more persecuted by the wicked than loved by the good.[translation by John Ormsby][La virtud, mas es perseguida de los malos, que amada de los buenos.]

An honest man’s word is as good as his bond.[translation by John Willis Clark]Pledges don’t distress a good paymaster.[translation by John Ormsby][Que al buen pagador no le duelen prendas.]

Too much even of a good thing lessens it in our esteem, and scarcity, even of an indifferent, makes it of some estimation.[translation by John Willis Clark]For abundance, even of good things, prevents them from being valued; and scarcity, even in the case of what is bad, confers a certain value.[translation by John Ormsby][Que la abundancia de las cosas, aunque sean buenas, hace que no se estimen, y la carestía, aun de las malas, se estima en algo.]

There is no book so bad, but something good may be found in it.[translation by John Willis Clark]There is no book so bad but it has something good in it.[translation by John Ormsby][No hay libro tan malo, que no tenga algo bueno.]

You are leaping over the hedge before you come at the stile – you are taking the wrong sow by the ear.[translation by John Willis Clark]

To-morrow is a new day.[translation by John Willis Clark]God will send us dawn and we shall be all right.[translation by John Ormsby][Amanecerá Dios, y medraremos.]

To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action, when there is more reason to fear than to hope; it is the part of a wise man to keep himself to-day for to-morrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket. And for all I am but a clown, or a bumpkin, as you may say, yet I would have you to know I know what’s what, and have always taken care of the main chance.[translation by John Willis Clark]To retire is not to flee, and there is no wisdom in waiting when danger outweighs hope, and it is the part of wise men to preserve themselves to-day for to-morrow, and not risk all in one day; and let me tell you, though I am a clown and a boor, I have got some notion of what they call safe conduct.[translation by John Ormsby][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. Y sepa que, aunque zafio y villano, todavía se me alcanza algo desto que llaman buen gobierno.]

There is a strange charm in the thoughts of a good legacy, or the hopes of an estate, which wondrously removes, or at least alleviates, the sorrow that men would otherwise feel for the death of friends.[translation by John Willis Clark]Inheriting property wipes out or softens down in the heir the feeling of grief the dead man might be expected to leave behind him.[translation by John Ormsby][Que esto del heredar algo borra o templa en el heredero la memoria de la pena que es razón que deje el muerto.]

The less you say, the better it will be.[translation by Peter Anthony Motteux]

Your honour is the very devil, and there is no kind of thing in the world but what you can turn your hand to.[translation by Peter Anthony Motteux]