55+ Best Don Quixote Quotes: Exclusive Selection

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, or just Don Quixote, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. A founding work of Western literature, it is often labeled “the first modern novel” and many authors consider it to be the best literary work ever written. Profoundly inspirational Don Quixote quotes will challenge the way you think, change the way you live and transform your whole life.

If you’re searching for inspirational quotes from books that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of profound Great Expectations quotes, amazing A Tale of Two Cities quotes and top Christmas Carol quotes.

Famous Don Quixote Quotes

There is a time for some things, and a time for all things; a time for great things, and a time for small things. — Don Quixote

Did I murder the old woman? I murdered myself, not her! I crushed myself once for all, forever. … But it was the devil that killed that old woman, not I. — Don Quixote

That is the nature of women, not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not. — Don Quixote

Kill her, take her money and with the help of it devote oneself to the service of humanity and the good of all. What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds? … One death, and a hundred lives in exchange—it’s simple arithmetic! — Don Quixote

Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things under ground, and much more in the skies. — Don Quixote

Those who play with cats must expect to be scratched. — Don Quixote

Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves. — Don Quixote

Let me leap out of the frying-pan into the fire; or, out of Gods blessing into the warm sun. — Don Quixote

The eyes those silent tongues of love. — Don Quixote

In short, I maintain that all great men or even men a little out of the common, that is to say capable of giving some new word, must from their very nature be criminals—more or less, of course. — Don Quixote

Truly I was born to be an example of misfortune, and a target at which the arrows of adversary are aimed. — Don Quixote

Love and war are the same thing, and stratagems and policy are as allowable in the one as in the other. — Don Quixote

You are a king by your own fireside, as much as any monarch on his throne. — Don Quixote

Twill grieve me so to the heart that I shall cry my eyes out. — Don Quixote

Didnt I tell you, Don Quixote, sir, to turn back, for they were not armies you were going to attack, but flocks of sheep? — Don Quixote

Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind. — Don Quixote

I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion. — Don Quixote

The brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the son of his own works. — Don Quixote

Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond. — Don Quixote

I never thrust my nose into other mens porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine; every man for himself, and God for us all. — Don Quixote

Great persons are able to do great kindnesses. — Don Quixote

Drink moderately; for drunkenness neither keeps a secret nor observes a promise. — Don Quixote

A tooth is much more to be prized than a diamond. — Don Quixote

And He will judge and will forgive all. … And when He has done with all of them, then He will summon us. You too come forth,’ He will say, Come forth ye drunkards, come forth, ye weak ones, come forth, ye children of shame! … This is why I receive them … that not one of them believed himself to be worthy of this.’ — Don Quixote

A bad year and a bad month to all the backbiting bitches in the world! — Don Quixote

Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones. — Don Quixote

Diligence is the mother of good fortune. — Don Quixote

When the head aches, all the members partake of the pain. — Don Quixote

There is no sauce in the world like hunger. — Don Quixote

Honesty is the best policy. — Don Quixote

There were but two families in the world — Have-Much and Have-Little. — Don Quixote

Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world. — Don Quixote

I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity,’ he said wildly and walked away to the window. Listen,’ he added, turning to her a minute later. I said just now to an insolent man that he was not worth your little finger.” — Don Quixote

It is a true saying that a man must eat a peck of salt with his friend before he knows him. — Don Quixote

If he had to remain standing on a square yard of space all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so than to die at once! Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be! … How true it is! Good God, how true! Man is a vile creature! … And vile is he who calls him vile for that. — Don Quixote

The devil, who seldom lies dead in a ditch, but will have a finger in every pie. — Don Quixote

The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water. — Don Quixote

Suffering, too, is a good thing. Suffer! … Fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid—the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again. … You must fulfil the demands of justice. — Don Quixote

There is a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us out flat some time or other. — Don Quixote

Virtue is more zealously persecurod by ill men than it is beloved by the good. — Don Quixote

An honest man’s word is as good as his bond. — Don Quixote

The ass will carry his load, but not a double load; ride not a free horse to death. — Don Quixote

He has an oar in every mans boat, and a finger in every pie. — Don Quixote

My memory is so bad that many times I forget my own name. — Don Quixote

A little in one’s own pocket is better than much in another man’s purse. It is good to keep a nest egg. Every little makes a mickle. — Don Quixote

I’ve so much to do of my own business and other people’s. Ah, Rodion Romanovitch,’ he added suddenly, what all men need is fresh air, fresh air … more than anything! — Don Quixote

Human nature is not taken into account, it is excluded, it’s not supposed to exist! … They believe that a social system that has come out of some mathematical brain is going to organise all humanity at once and make it just and sinless in an instant, quicker than any living process! … The living soul demands life; the soul won’t obey the rules of mechanics. — Don Quixote

No limits but the sky. — Don Quixote

It’s not a matter of permission or prohibition. He will suffer if he is sorry for his victim. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. — Don Quixote

Make hay while the sun shines. — Don Quixote

Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse. — Don Quixote

There is not the least thing can be said or done but people will talk and find fault. — Don Quixote

Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last. — Don Quixote

The bow cannot always stand bent, nor can human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation. — Don Quixote

I shall never be fool enough to turn knight-errant. For I see quite well that its not the fashion now to do as they did in the olden days when they say those famous knights roamed the world. — Don Quixote

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. — Don Quixote