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Don Quixote

Don Quixote

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Part 1 The Author's Preface

Word Count: 2601    |    Released on: 18/11/2017

I would this book, as it is the child of my brain, were

rren muses fertile, and bring into the world births that fill it with wonder and delight. Sometimes when a father has an ugly, loutish son, the love he bears him so blindfolds his eyes that he does not see his defects, or, rather, takes them for gifts and charms of mind and body, and talks of them to his friends as wit and grace. I, however - for though I pass for the father, I am but the stepfather to "Don Quixote" - have no desire to go with the current of custom, or to implore thee, dearest reader, almost with tears in my eyes, as others do,

Preface thou art now reading. Many times did I take up my pen to write it, and many did I lay it down again, not knowing what to write. One of these times, as I was pondering with the paper before me, a pen in my ear, my elbow on the desk, and my cheek in my hand, thinking of what I should say, there came in unexpectedly a certai

philosophers, that they fill the readers with amazement and convince them that the authors are men of learning, erudition, and eloquence. And then, when they quote the Holy Scriptures! - anyone would say they are St. Thomases or other doctors of the Church, observing as they do a decorum so ingenious that in one sentence they describe a distracted lover and in the next deliver a devout little sermon that it is a pleasure and a treat to hear and read. Of all this there will be nothing in my book, for I have nothing to quote in the margin or to note at the end, and still

with all those things he stands in need of; because I find myself, through my shallowness and want of learning, unequal to supplying them, and because I am by nature shy and ca

at as the heaven is from the earth. It is possible that things of so little moment and so easy to set right can occupy and perplex a ripe wit like yours, fit to break through and crush far greater obstacles? By my faith, this comes, not of any want of ability, but of too much indolence and too little knowledge of life. Do you want to kn

you propose to make up for my diffidence, and r

e a little trouble to make them; you can afterwards baptise them, and put any name you like to them, fathering them on Prester John of the Indies or the Emperor of Trebizond, who, to my knowledge, were said to have been famous

ur story, it is only contriving to fit in nicely any sentences or scraps of Latin you may happen to have by heart, or

toto libertas

or whoever said it; or, if you allude

uo pulsat pede p

que t

t of research, and quote no less than the words of God himself: Ego autem dico vobis: diligite inimicos vestros. If you speak of evil thoug

lix multos nu

uerint nubil

ll take you for a grammarian at all events, an

he giant Goliath, and with this alone, which will cost you almost nothing, you have a grand note, for you can put - The giant Golias or Goliath was a Philisti

have it by heart; if with loose women, there is the Bishop of Mondonedo, who will give you the loan of Lamia, Laida, and Flora, any reference to whom will bring you great credit; if with hard-hearted ones, Ovid will furnish you with Medea; if with witches or enchantresses, Homer has Calypso, and Virgil Circe; if with valiant captains, Julius Caesar himself will lend you himself in his own 'Commentaries,' and Plutarch will give you a thousand Alexanders. If you should deal with love, with two ounces you may know of Tuscan yo

those things you say it wants, for it is, from beginning to end, an attack upon the books of chivalry, of which Aristotle never dreamt, nor St. Basil said a word, nor Cicero had any knowledge; nor do the niceties of truth nor the observations of astrology come within the range of its fanciful vagaries; nor have geometrical measurements or refutations of the arguments used in rhetoric anything to do with it; nor does it mean to preach to anybody, mixing up things human and divine, a sort of motley in which no Christian understanding should dress itself. It has only to avail itself of truth to nature in its composition, and the more perfect the imitation the better the work will be. And as this piece of yours aims at nothing more than to destroy the authority and influence which books of chivalry have in the world and with the public, there is no need for you to go

at thou hast gained in receiving, without addition or alteration, the story of the famous Don Quixote of La Mancha, who is held by all the inhabitants of the district of the Campo de Montiel to have been the chastest lover and the bravest knight that has for many years been seen in that neighbourhood. I have no desire to magnify the service I render thee in making t

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1 Part 1 The Author's Preface2 Part 1 Chapter 13 Part 1 Chapter 24 Part 1 Chapter 35 Part 1 Chapter 46 Part 1 Chapter 57 Part 1 Chapter 68 Part 1 Chapter 79 Part 1 Chapter 810 Part 1 Chapter 911 Part 1 Chapter 1012 Part 1 Chapter 1113 Part 1 Chapter 1214 Part 1 Chapter 1315 Part 1 Chapter 1416 Part 1 Chapter 1517 Part 1 Chapter 1618 Part 1 Chapter 1719 Part 1 Chapter 1820 Part 1 Chapter 1921 Part 1 Chapter 2022 Part 1 Chapter 2123 Part 1 Chapter 2224 Part 1 Chapter 2325 Part 1 Chapter 2426 Part 1 Chapter 2527 Part 1 Chapter 2628 Part 1 Chapter 2729 Part 1 Chapter 2830 Part 1 Chapter 2931 Part 1 Chapter 3032 Part 1 Chapter 3133 Part 1 Chapter 3234 Part 1 Chapter 3335 Part 1 Chapter 3436 Part 1 Chapter 3537 Part 1 Chapter 3638 Part 1 Chapter 3739 Part 1 Chapter 3840 Part 1 Chapter 3941 Part 1 Chapter 4042 Part 1 Chapter 4143 Part 1 Chapter 4244 Part 1 Chapter 4345 Part 1 Chapter 4446 Part 1 Chapter 4547 Part 1 Chapter 4648 Part 1 Chapter 4749 Part 1 Chapter 4850 Part 1 Chapter 4951 Part 1 Chapter 5052 Part 1 Chapter 5153 Part 1 Chapter 5254 Part 2 The Author's Preface55 Part 2 Chapter 156 Part 2 Chapter 257 Part 2 Chapter 358 Part 2 Chapter 459 Part 2 Chapter 560 Part 2 Chapter 661 Part 2 Chapter 762 Part 2 Chapter 863 Part 2 Chapter 964 Part 2 Chapter 1065 Part 2 Chapter 1166 Part 2 Chapter 1267 Part 2 Chapter 1368 Part 2 Chapter 1469 Part 2 Chapter 1570 Part 2 Chapter 1671 Part 2 Chapter 1772 Part 2 Chapter 1873 Part 2 Chapter 1974 Part 2 Chapter 2075 Part 2 Chapter 2176 Part 2 Chapter 2277 Part 2 Chapter 2378 Part 2 Chapter 2479 Part 2 Chapter 2580 Part 2 Chapter 2681 Part 2 Chapter 2782 Part 2 Chapter 2883 Part 2 Chapter 2984 Part 2 Chapter 3085 Part 2 Chapter 3186 Part 2 Chapter 3287 Part 2 Chapter 3388 Part 2 Chapter 3489 Part 2 Chapter 3590 Part 2 Chapter 3691 Part 2 Chapter 3792 Part 2 Chapter 3893 Part 2 Chapter 3994 Part 2 Chapter 4095 Part 2 Chapter 4196 Part 2 Chapter 4297 Part 2 Chapter 4398 Part 2 Chapter 4499 Part 2 Chapter 45100 Part 2 Chapter 46