Dress well; a stick dressed up does not look like a stick.

Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605)
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Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing. An occasional stew, beef more than lamb, hash most nights, eggs and abstinence on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, sometimes squab as a treat on Sundays – these consumed three-fourths of his income.

Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605), translated by Edith Grossman
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The Lady of Oriana To Dulcinea del Toboso

Oh, fairest Dulcinea, could it be!
It were a pleasant fancy to suppose so—
Could Miraflores change to El Toboso,
And London's town to that which shelters thee!

Oh, could mine but acquire that livery
Of countless charms thy mind and body show so!
Or him, now famous grown—thou mad'st him grow so—
Thy knight, in some dread combat could I see!

Oh, could I be released from Amadis
By exercise of such coy chastity
As led thee gentle Quixote to dismiss!

Then would my heavy sorrow turn to joy;
None would I envy, all would envy me,
And happiness be mine without alloy.

poem by Miguel de Cervantes from Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605), translated by John Ormsby
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Oh, envy, root of infinite wickedness and destroyer of virtue!

Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605)
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What greater misfortune, quoth Sancho, can there be than that which only expecteth time and death to end and consume it?

Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605)
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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. To seek treasures where there is only trash... Too much sanity may be madness, and maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be.

Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote de la Mancha
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