Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -CONCORDANCE INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1547-1616 John Bartlett

1
I was so free with him as not to mince the matter.
Don Quixote. The Author’s Preface.
2
They can expect nothing but their labour for their pains. 1
Don Quixote. The Author’s Preface.
3
As ill-luck would have it. 2
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. ii.
4
The brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the son of his own works. 3
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. iv.
5
Which I have earned with the sweat of my brows.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. iv.
6
Can we ever have too much of a good thing? 4
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. vi.
7
The charging of his enemy was but the work of a moment.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. viii.
8
And had a face like a blessing. 5
Don Quixote. Part i. Book ii. Chap. iv.
9
It is a true saying that a man must eat a peck of salt with his friend before he knows him.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. i.
10
Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. i.
11
Fair and softly goes far.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ii.
12
Plain as the nose on a man’s face. 6
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.
13
Let me leap out of the frying-pan into the fire; 7 or, out of God’s blessing into the warm sun. 8
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.
14
You are taking the wrong sow by the ear. 9
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.
15
Bell, book, and candle.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.
16
Let the worst come to the worst. 10
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. v.
17
You are come off now with a whole skin.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. v.
18
Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things under ground, and much more in the skies.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.
19
Ill-luck, you know, seldom comes alone. 11
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.
20
Why do you lead me a wild-goose chase?
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.
21
I find my familiarity with thee has bred contempt. 12
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.
22
The more thou stir it, the worse it will be.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.
23
Now had Aurora displayed her mantle over the blushing skies, and dark night withdrawn her sable veil.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.
24
I tell thee, that is Mambrino’s helmet.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vii.
25
Give me but that, and let the world rub; there I ’ll stick.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vii.
26
Sure as a gun. 13
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vii.
27
Sing away sorrow, cast away care.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
28
Thank you for nothing.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
29
After meat comes mustard; or, like money to a starving man at sea, when there are no victuals to be bought with it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
30
Of good natural parts and of a liberal education.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
31
Would puzzle a convocation of casuists to resolve their degrees of consanguinity.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
32
Let every man mind his own business.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
33
Murder will out. 14
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
34
Thou art a cat, and a rat, and a coward.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.
35
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself to-day for to-morrow, and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.
36
I know what ’s what, and have always taken care of the main chance. 15
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.
37
The ease of my burdens, the staff of my life.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.
38
I am almost frighted out of my seven senses. 16
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.
39
Within a stone’s throw of it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.
40
Let us make hay while the sun shines. 17
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
41
I never thrust my nose into other men’s porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine; every man for himself, and God for us all. 18
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
42
Little said is soonest mended. 19
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
43
A close mouth catches no flies.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
44
She may guess what I should perform in the wet, if I do so much in the dry.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
45
You are a devil at everything, and there is no kind of thing in the ’versal world but what you can turn your hand to.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
46
It will grieve me so to the heart, that I shall cry my eyes out.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.
47
Delay always breeds danger. 20
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. ii.
48
They must needs go whom the Devil drives. 21
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.
49
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 22
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.
50
More knave than fool. 23
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.
51
I can tell where my own shoe pinches me; and you must not think, sir, to catch old birds with chaff.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. v.
52
I never saw a more dreadful battle in my born days.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. viii.
53
Here is the devil-and-all to pay.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.
54
I begin to smell a rat. 24
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.
55
I will take my corporal oath on it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.
56
It is past all controversy that what costs dearest is, and ought to be, most valued.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap xi.
57
I would have nobody to control me; I would be absolute: and who but I? Now, he that is absolute can do what he likes; he that can do what he likes can take his pleasure; he that can take his pleasure can be content; and he that can be content has no more to desire. So the matter ’s over; and come what will come, I am satisfied. 25
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. xxiii.
58
When the head aches, all the members partake of the pain. 26
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. ii.
59
He has done like Orbaneja, the painter of Ubeda, who, being asked what he painted, answered, “As it may hit;” and when he had scrawled out a misshapen cock, was forced to write underneath, in Gothic letters, “This is a cock.” 27
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.
60
There are men that will make you books, and turn them loose into the world, with as much dispatch as they would do a dish of fritters.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.
61
“There is no book so bad,” said the bachelor, “but something good may be found in it.” 28
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.
62
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iv.
63
Spare your breath to cool your porridge. 29
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. v.
64
A little in one’s own pocket is better than much in another man’s purse.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. vii.
65
Remember the old saying, “Faint heart never won fair lady.” 30
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.
66
There is a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us out flat some time or other.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.
67
Are we to mark this day with a white or a black stone?
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.
68
Let every man look before he leaps. 31
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xiv.
69
The pen is the tongue of the mind.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xvi.
70
There were but two families in the world, Have-much and Have-little.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xx.
71
He has an oar in every man’s boat, and a finger in every pie.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxii.
72
Patience, and shuffle the cards.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.
73
Comparisons are odious. 32
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.
74
Tell me thy company, and I will tell thee what thou art.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.
75
The proof of the pudding is the eating.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiv.
76
He is as like one, as one egg is like another. 33
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxvii.
77
You can see farther into a millstone than he. 34
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap xxviii.
78
Sancho Panza by name, is my own self, if I was not changed in my cradle.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxx.
79
“Sit there, clod-pate!” cried he; “for let me sit wherever I will, that will still be the upper end, and the place of worship to thee.” 35
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxi.
80
Building castles in the air, 36 and making yourself a laughing-stock.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxi.
81
It is good to live and learn.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxii.
82
He is as mad as a March hare. 37
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
83
I must follow him through thick and thin. 38
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
84
There is no love lost between us. 39
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
85
In the night all cats are gray. 40
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
86
All is not gold that glisters. 41
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
87
I can look sharp as well as another, and let me alone to keep the cobwebs out of my eyes.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
88
Honesty is the best policy.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
89
Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
90
A good name is better than riches. 42
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
91
I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
92
An honest man’s word is as good as his bond.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.
93
Heaven’s help is better than early rising.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiv.
94
I have other fish to fry. 43
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxv.
95
There is a time for some things, and a time for all things; a time for great things, and a time for small things. 44
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxv.
96
But all in good time.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvi.
97
Matters will go swimmingly.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvi.
98
Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.
99
They had best not stir the rice, though it sticks to the pot.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.
100
Good wits jump; 45 a word to the wise is enough.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.
101
You may as well expect pears from an elm. 46
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xl.
102
Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world. 47
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xlii.
103
You cannot eat your cake and have your cake; 48 and store ’s no sore. 49
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
104
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
105
What a man has, so much he is sure of.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
106
When a man says, “Get out of my house! what would you have with my wife?” there is no answer to be made.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
107
The pot calls the kettle black.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xliii.
108
This peck of troubles.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. liii.
109
When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome. 50
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. liv.
110
Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lv.
111
My thoughts ran a wool-gathering; and I did like the countryman who looked for his ass while he was mounted on his back.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lvii.
112
Liberty … is one of the most valuable blessings that Heaven has bestowed upon mankind.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lviii.
113
As they use to say, spick and span new. 51
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lviii.
114
I think it a very happy accident. 52
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lviii.
115
I shall be as secret as the grave.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxii.
116
Now, blessings light on him that first invented this same sleep! It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; it is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It is the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap, and the balance that sets the king and the shepherd, the fool and the wise man, even. 53
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxviii.
117
Rome was not built in a day. 54
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxxi.
118
The ass will carry his load, but not a double load; ride not a free horse to death.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxxi.
119
Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last. 55
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. lxxiv.
120
Don’t put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted.
The Little Gypsy (La Gitanilla).
121
My heart is wax moulded as she pleases, but enduring as marble to retain. 56
The Little Gypsy (La Gitanilla).

Note 1. See Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Quotation 1. [back]

Note 2. See Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Quotation 27. [back]

Note 3. See Bacon, Quotation 28. [back]

Note 4. See Shakespeare, As You Like It, Quotation 59. [back]

Note 5. He had a face like a benediction.—Jarvis’s translation. [back]

Note 6. See Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Quotation 5. [back]

Note 7. See Heywood, Quotation 110. [back]

Note 8. See Heywood, Quotation 101. [back]

Note 9. See Heywood, Quotation 124. [back]

Note 10. See Middleton, Quotation 7. [back]

Note 11. See Shakespeare, Hamlet, Quotation 196. [back]

Note 12. See Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Quotation 7. [back]

Note 13. See Butler, Quotation 28. [back]

Note 14. See Chaucer, Quotation 39. [back]

Note 15. See Lyly, Quotation 11. [back]

Note 16. See Scott, Quotation 62. [back]

Note 17. See Heywood, Quotation 11. [back]

Note 18. See Heywood, Quotation 130. [back]

Note 19. See Wither, Quotation 5. [back]

Note 20. See Shakespeare, King Henry VI. Part I, Quotation 4. [back]

Note 21. See Heywood, Quotation 114. [back]

Note 22. See Heywood, Quotation 67. Also Plutarch, Quotation 164. [back]

Note 23. See Marlowe, Quotation 9. [back]

Note 24. See Middleton, Quotation 4. [back]

Note 25. I would do what I pleased; and doing what I pleased, I should have my will; and having my will, I should be contented; and when one is contented, there is no more to be desired; and when there is no more to be desired, there is an end of it.—Jarvis’s translation. [back]

Note 26. For let our finger ache, and it endues Our other healthful members even to that sense Of pain.—Othello, act iii. sc. 4. [back]

Note 27. The painter Orbaneja of Ubeda, if he chanced to draw a cock, he wrote under it, “This is a cock,” lest the people should take it for a fox.—Jarvis’s translation. [back]

Note 28. See Pliny the Younger, Quotation 6. [back]

Note 29. See Rabelais, Quotation 57. [back]

Note 30. Edmund Spenser: Britain’s Ida, canto v. stanza 1. Ellerton: George a-Greene (a Ballad). Whetstone: Rocke of Regard. Robert Burns: To Dr. Blacklock. George Colman, the Younger: Love Laughs at Locksmiths, act i. [back]

Note 31. See Heywood, Quotation 8. [back]

Note 32. See Fortescue, Quotation 2. [back]

Note 33. See Rabelais, Quotation 43. Also Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Quotation 1. [back]

Note 34. See Heywood, Quotation 51. [back]

Note 35. Sit thee down, chaff-threshing churl! for let me sit where I will, that is the upper end to thee.—Jarvis’s translation. This is generally placed in the mouth of Macgregor: “Where Macgregor sits, there is the head of the table.” Emerson quotes it, in his “American Scholar,” as the saying of Macdonald, and Theodore Parker as the saying of the Highlander. [back]

Note 36. See Burton, Quotation 21. [back]

Note 37. See Heywood, Quotation 112. [back]

Note 38. See Spenser, Quotation 15. [back]

Note 39. See Middleton, Quotation 18. [back]

Note 40. See Heywood, Quotation 32. [back]

Note 41. See Chaucer, Quotation 40. [back]

Note 42. See Publius Syrus, Quotation 9. [back]

Note 43. See Rabelais, Quotation 49. [back]

Note 44. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose.—Ecclesiastes iii. 1. [back]

Note 45. See Sterne, Quotation 2. [back]

Note 46. See Publius Syrus, Quotation 69. [back]

Note 47. See Chaucer, Quotation 38. [back]

Note 48. See Heywood, Quotation 129. [back]

Note 49. See Heywood, Quotation 27. [back]

Note 50. See Burton, Quotation 87. [back]

Note 51. See Middleton, Quotation 11. [back]

Note 52. See Middleton, Quotation 29. [back]

Note 53. Blessing on him who invented sleep,—the mantle that covers all human thoughts, the food that appeases hunger, the drink that quenches thirst, the fire that warms cold, the cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, the general coin that purchases all things, the balance and weight that equals the shepherd with the king, and the simple with the wise.—Jarvis’s translation. [back]

Note 54. See Heywood, Quotation 68. [back]

Note 55. See Longfellow, Quotation 15. [back]

Note 56. See Byron, Quotation 176. [back]