Although I enjoy all kinds of reads, Don Quixote is one of those books that always stays on my mind. I still can’t decide if the characters or the plot is what drives me to reread it constantly. But what I know for sure is that, no matter the context, some Don Quixote quotes will make my day better.
Honestly, I sometimes end up just looking for quotes and fragments just to relieve the days of chivalry and knighthood. And while the book is amazing, the character of Don Quixote is even more astonishing. A perfect study on madness and how perspective changes everything.
But it doesn’t matter if he is fighting windmills or saving damsels in distress, Don Quixote is a real gentleman. He always prevails and doesn’t back down from a real challenge. And since we all need a little bit of chivalry in our lives, here are some Don Quixote quotes to provide just that.
30 Don Quixote Quotes Which Will Bring Chivalry Into Your Life
Uplifting Don Quixote Quotes
#1. “She wanted, with her fickleness, to make my destruction constant; I want, by trying to destroy myself, to satisfy her desire.”
#2. “Where envy reigns virtue can’t exist, and generosity doesn’t go with meanness.”
#3. “Laughter distances us from that which is ugly and therefore potentially distressing, and indeed enables us to obtain paradoxical pleasure and therapeutic benefit from it.”
#4. “To dream the impossible dream, that is my quest.”
#5. “For neither good nor evil can last forever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand.”
#6. “Take my advice and live for a long, long time. Because the maddest thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die.”
#7. “The most perceptive character in a play is the fool, because the man who wishes to seem simple cannot possibly be a simpleton.”
#8. “Everything I have done, am doing, and shall do follows the dictates of reason and the laws of chivalry.”
Don Quixote Quotes About Love
#9. “There were no embraces, because where there is great love there is often little display of it.”
#10. “…for hope is always born at the same time as love…”
#11. “He is most blessed who loves the most, the freest who is most enslaved by love.”
#12. “That is the nature of women,” said Don Quixote. “They reject the man who loves them and love the man who despises them.”
#13. “Love is invisible, and comes in and goes out as he likes, without anyone calling him to account for what he does.”
#14. “What man can pretend to know the riddle of a woman’s mind?”
#15. “Woman is made of fragile glass; but do not put her to the test to see if she will break, for that might come to pass.”
#16. “…but once more I say do as you please, for we women are born to this burden of being obedient to our husbands, though they be blockheads.”
#17. “…love, as I have heard say, sometimes flies and sometimes walks; with this one it runs, with that it moves slowly; some it cools, others it burns; some it wounds, others it slays;”
Iconic Don Quixote Quotes
#18. “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
#19. “I do not deny that what happened to us is a thing worth laughing at. But it is not worth telling, for not everyone is sufficiently intelligent to be able to see things from the right point of view.”
#20. “The greatest madness a man can be guilty of in this life, is to let himself die outright, without being slain by any person whatever, or destroyed by any other weapon than the hands of melancholy.”
#21. “It’s up to brave hearts, sir, to be patient when things are going badly, as well as being happy when they’re going well … For I’ve heard that what they call fortune is a flighty woman who drinks too much, and, what’s more, she’s blind, so she can’t see what she’s doing, and she doesn’t know who she’s knocking over or who she’s raising up.”
#22. “The reason of the unreasonableness which against my reason is wrought, doth so weaken my reason, as with all reason I do justly complain on your beauty.”
#23. “So it isn’t the masses who are to blame for demanding rubbish, but rather those who aren’t capable of providing them with anything else.”
Don Quixote Quotes About Truth And Honor
#24. “The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.”
#25. “… truth, whose mother is history, who is the rival of time, depository of deeds, witness of the past, example and lesson to the present, and warning to the future.”
#26. “The wounds received in battle bestow honor, they do not take it away…”
#27. “What covers you discovers you.”
#28. “Bear in mind, Sancho, that one man is no more than another, unless he does more than another.”
#29. “Consider, that no jewel upon earth is comparable to a woman of virtue and honor; and, that the honor of the sex consists in the fair characters they maintain.”
#30. “What I can tell your grace is that it deals with truths, and they are truths so appealing and elegant that no lies can equal them.”
The Bottom Line
All things considered, I truly believe that everyone should read Don Quixote at least once in their life. The characters, the atmosphere, and the overall theme are what make this book a must-read in my opinion. But I can agree that it is not an easy read and some people may be turned off by that.
However, you can always rely on Don Quixote quotes if you want to enjoy a classic without facing the harsh entry barrier.
