Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Miguel de Cervantes y Cortinas, later Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His novel Don Quixote is often considered his magnum opus, as well as the first modern novel.
It is assumed that Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares. His father was Rodrigo de Cervantes, a surgeon of cordoban descent. Little is known of his mother Leonor de Cortinas, except that she was a native of Arganda del Rey.
In 1569, Cervantes moved to Italy, where he served as a valet to Giulio Acquaviva, a wealthy priest who was elevated to cardinal the next year. By then, Cervantes had enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by Algerian corsairs. He was then released on ransom from his captors by his parents and the Trinitarians, a Catholic religious order.
He subsequently returned to his family in Madrid.
In Esquivias (Province of Toledo), on 12 December 1584, he married the much younger Catalina de Salazar y Palacios (Toledo, Esquivias –, 31 October 1626), daughter of Fernando de Salazar y Vozmediano and Catalina de Palacios. Her uncle Alonso de Quesada y Salazar is said to have inspired the character of Don Quixote. During the next 20 years Cervantes led a nomadic existence, working as a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada and as a tax collector. He suffered a bankruptcy and was imprisoned at least twice (1597 and 1602) for irregularities in his accounts. Between 1596 and 1600, he lived primarily in Seville. In 1606, Cervantes settled in Madrid, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Cervantes died in Madrid on April 23, 1616.
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“There are two kinds of beauty, one being of the soul and the other of the body,That of the soul is revealed through intelligence, modesty, right conduct,Generosity and good breeding, all of which qualities may exist in an ugly man;And when one's gaze is fixed upon beauty of this sort and not upon that of the body,Love is usually born suddenly and violently.”
“Time ripens all things; no man is born wise.”
“Never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn.”
“The eyes those silent tongues of love.”
“When a rich man is hurt, his wail goeth heavens high. (Sancho Panza)”
“Cada uno es hijo de sus obras.”
“The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.”
“Facts are the enemy of truth.”
“The pen is the tongue of the mind.”
“Drink moderately, for drunkeness neither keeps a secret, nor observes a promise.”
“Es natural condición de las mujeres desdeñar a quien las quiere y amar a quien las aborrece”
“Those who will play with cats must expect to be scratched.”
“¡No milagro, milagro, sino industria, industria!”
“El que lee mucho y anda mucho, ve mucho y sabe mucho.”
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
“All sorrows are less with bread. ”
“Muchos son los andantes," dijo Sancho.Muchos," respondió don Quijote, "pero pocos los que merecen nombre de caballeros.”
“All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level. There’s only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse.”