Don Quixote Quotes in English and Spanish

All that glisters is not gold.
Topic: Appearance
Source: Don Quixote (pt. II, ch. XXXIII)

The pen is the tongue of the mind. [Sp., La pluma es lengua del alma.]
Topic: Authorship
Source: Don Quixote (V, 16)

All kinds of beauty do not inspire love; there is a kind which only pleases the sight, but does not captivate the affections. [Sp., No todas hermosuras enamoran, que algunas alegran la vista, y no rinden la voluntad.]
Topic: Beauty
Source: Don Quixote (II, 6)

Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last.
Topic: Birds
Source: Don Quixote (pt. II, ch. LXXIV)

Patience and shuffle the cards. [Sp., Paciencia y barajar.]
Topic: Cards
Source: Don Quixote (II, 23)

All will come out in the washing. [Sp., Todo saldra en al colada.]
Topic: Cleanliness
Source: Don Quixote (I, 20)

Tell me thy company and I will tell thee what thou art.
Topic: Companionship
Source: Don Quixote (vol. III, pt. II, ch. XXIII), quoted in

Said the pot to the kettle, "Get away, blackface." [Sp., Dijo la sarten a la caldera, quitate alla ojinegra.]
Topic: Criticism
Source: Don Quixote (II, 67)


I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.
Topic: Drinking
Source: Don Quixote (pt. II, ch. XXXIII)

All sorrows are good (or are less) with bread. [Sp., Todos los duelos con pan son buenos (or son menos).]
Topic: Eating
Source: Don Quixote (ch. II, 13)
The stomach carries the heart, and not the heart the stomach. [Sp., Tripas llevan corazon, que no corazon tripas.]
Topic: Eating
Source: Don Quixote (ch. II, 47)

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Topic: Eating
Source: Don Quixote (ch. XXIV)

Not with whom you are born, but with whom you are bred. [Sp., No con quien naces, sino con quien paces.]
Topic: Education
Source: Don Quixote (II, 10)
Inasmuch as ill-deeds spring up as a spontaneous crop, they are easy to learn. [Sp., Como el hacer mal viene de natural cosecha, facilmente se aprende el hacerle.]
Topic: Evil
Source: Coloquio de los Perros
He had a face like a benediction (blessing).
Topic: Faces
Source: Don Quixote (bk. II, pt. I, ch. IV)
Fear has many eyes. [Sp., El miedo tiene muchos ojos.]
Topic: Fear
Source: Don Quixote (III, 6)
I have other fish to fry.
Topic: Fish
Source: Don Quixote (pt. II, ch. XXXV)

Make yourself honey and the flies will devour you. [Sp., Haceos miel, y paparos han moscas.]
Topic: Flies
Source: Don Quixote (II, 43)

Folly is wont to have more followers and comrades than discretion. [Sp., Mas acompanados y paniguados debe di tener la locura que la discrecion.]
Topic: Folly
Source: Don Quixote (II, 13)

Leap out of the frying pan into the fire.
Topic: Proverbial Phrases
Source: Don Quixote (pt. I, bk. III, ch. IV)