quotations- from Cervantes (most from Don Quixote)

God exalts the man who humbles himself.  -Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Look carefully, I tell you, look carefully at what you do, in case the devil is deceiving you. –Sancho Panza, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 He who sings scares away his woes. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Those who will play with cats must expect to be scratched. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 There are two kinds of beauty, one being of the soul and the other of the body,

That of the soul is revealed through intelligence, modesty, right conduct,
Generosity and good breeding, all of which qualities may exist in an ugly man;
And when one's gaze is fixed upon beauty of this sort and not upon that of the body,
Love is usually born suddenly and violently. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Abundance, even of good things, prevents them from being valued. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Diligence is the mother of good fortune. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Everyone is as God has made him, and oftentimes a great deal worse. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Honesty's the best policy. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 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. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 A Man Without Honor is Worse than Dead. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical may be madness. To surrender dreams, this may be madness ...Maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 The journey is better than the inn. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 There is no greater folly in the world than for a man to despair. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 One who loses wealth loses much. One who loses a friend loses more. But one who loses courage loses all. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 There's no taking trout with dry breeches.― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Fair and softly goes far. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Until death it is all life.  ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 The brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the son of his own works. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 To be prepared is half the victory. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 He preaches well that lives well. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 No man is more than another unless he does more than another. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Captivity is the greatest of all evils that can befall one. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 True valor lies between cowardice and rashness. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 That which costs little is less valued. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness, its opposite, never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our own deeds. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Take away the cause, and the effect ceases. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action, when there's more reason to fear than to hope. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Be slow of tongue and quick of eye. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 I have always heard, Sancho, that doing good to base fellows is like throwing water into the sea. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Liberty is one of the most precious gifts which heaven has bestowed on man; with it we cannot compare the treasures which the earth contains or the sea conceals; for liberty, as for honor, we can and ought to risk our lives; and, on for the other hand, captivity is the greatest evil that can befall man.  ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 It seldom happens that any felicity comes so pure as not to be tempered and allayed by some mixture of sorrow. ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world. Yet from this lesson thou will learn to avoid the frog's foolish ambition of swelling to rival the bigness of the ox. -Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome.  -Miguel de Cervantes 

 The eyes, those silent tongues of love.  ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.  ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.  -Miguel de Cervantes 

 That's the nature of women, not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not. 

-Miguel de Cervantes 

 What man can pretend to know the riddle of a woman's mind? ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra