Antithesis

Setting side by side opposite ideas or words, so that one lights up the other through contrast.

In Don Quixote

in short, he so steeped himself in his reading that the nights passed reading from light to light, and the days from murk to murk; and so, from little sleep and much reading, his brain dried up, to such a degree that he came to lose his wits.

"Little sleep" and "much reading" oppose each other in quantity and add up in effect: the lack of one and the excess of the other, set side by side, explain the dried-up brain.

Part One: The Gentleman and the Windmills, the narrator, on the gentleman in chapter I

those you see there are not giants, but windmills, and what seem to be arms in them are the sails, which, turned by the wind, make the millstone spin.

Part One: The Gentleman and the Windmills, Sancho Panza, to his master, before the windmills

happy age and happy centuries those to which the ancients gave the name golden, not because gold, so prized in this iron age of ours, was obtained then without any labor, but because the people who lived in them did not know these two words: yours and mine.

Part One: Marcela and the Inn, Don Quixote, to the goatherds, with a handful of acorns in his hand

if they are not seen, they are felt, said Sancho; if not, let my back say so.

Part One: Marcela and the Inn, Sancho Panza, to his master, at the inn taken for a castle

it is not good for honorable men to be executioners of other men when nothing is at stake for them.

Part One: The Galley Slaves and the Sierra, Don Quixote, to the guards of the galley slaves

that driving a knight-errant mad with reason brings no merit or thanks: the trick lies in going mad without occasion, and letting my lady understand that if I do this when dry, what would I not do when wet?

Part One: The Penance and Micomicona, Don Quixote, to Sancho, in the Sierra Morena

I am your vassal, but not your slave; the nobility of your blood neither has nor should have the power to dishonor and hold in low regard the humility of mine; and I esteem myself as much, a peasant farmer, as you, lord and knight.

Part One: The Penance and Micomicona, Dorothea, to Don Fernando, as she tells her story to Cardenio and the priest

it is not for knights-errant to inquire whether the afflicted, chained, and oppressed they find along the roads are going that way, or are in that distress, through their faults or their merits; it falls to them only to help them as the needy, fixing their eyes on their sufferings and not on their knaveries.

Part One: The Penance and Micomicona, Don Quixote, to Sancho, on hearing the priest tell of the theft of the galley slaves

I came to be a captive in their power, and I alone was the sorrowful one among so many joyful men, the captive among so many free men; for fifteen thousand Christians won the longed-for liberty that day, all of whom had been rowing in the Turkish fleet.

Part One: The Arms and the Captive, the captive, to the guests at the inn, on the day of Lepanto

Allah knows well that I could do nothing but what I did, and that these Christians owe nothing to my will; for even if I had wished not to come with them and to stay in my house, it would have been impossible, given the haste my soul pressed upon me to carry out this thing, which seems to me as good as you, beloved father, judge it bad.

Part One: The Arms and the Captive, Zoraida, to her father, as the boat moves away from the shore

to write as a poet is one thing, as a historian another: it falls to the poet to tell, or sing, things not as they were but as they ought to be; it falls to the historian to write them not as they ought to be but as they were, adding or taking nothing from the truth.

Part Two: The Printed Book, Sansón Carrasco, to Don Quixote and Sancho, on the printed book

as the proverb says, he who covers you uncovers you. Everyone glances over the poor man in passing, but lingers on the rich; and if that rich man was once poor, there is gossip and slander, and the worst of it is the persistence of the slanderers, who swarm through these streets by the heap, like bees in a swarm.

Part Two: The Printed Book, Teresa Panza, to her husband, who wants to see their daughter a countess

the difference between these two madmen is that the one who is mad by force will always be so, and the one who is mad by choice will cease to be when he pleases.

Part Two: Mirrors, Lions, and Camacho, Sansón Carrasco, to Tomé Cecial, after being defeated

that was the first day on which he came to know and believe, through and through, that he was a true knight-errant, and not an imaginary one, seeing himself treated just as he had read such knights were treated in past centuries.

Part Two: Montesinos and the Puppet Show, the narrator, on Don Quixote's arrival at the dukes' castle

if the knights, the magnificent, the generous, the high-born, held me a fool, I would take it as an irreparable insult; but if students who never entered or trod the paths of chivalry think me a dunce, I do not care a farthing: I am a knight, and a knight I shall die, if it pleases the Most High.

Part Two: The Duke and Duchess and Clavileño, Don Quixote, at the dukes' table, to the churchman who scorned him

I hold my master Don Quixote to be an utter madman, though at times he says things that, in my opinion and in that of all who hear him, are so clever and so well reasoned that Satan himself could not say them better; but for all that, truly and without scruple, it has settled in my mind that he is a lunatic. [...] I venture to make him believe things that have neither feet nor head, such as that business of the answer to the letter, and the one from six or eight days ago, which is not yet in history; namely, the enchantment of my lady Doña Dulcinea, which I led him to believe she is under, when it is no more true than that she is in the hills of Úbeda.

Part Two: The Duke and Duchess and Clavileño, Sancho, to the duchess, after lifting the canopies in the hall

consider the guilty man who falls under your jurisdiction a wretched man, subject to the conditions of our depraved nature, and in everything that is up to you, without doing wrong to the other party, show yourself merciful and clement; for although all the attributes of God are equal, the one of mercy shines and stands out more in our eyes than that of justice.

Part Two: The Governorship of the Island, Don Quixote, to Sancho, in the first counsels of government

let me return to my former freedom; let me go and seek the life I had before, so that it may raise me from this present death.

Part Two: The Governorship of the Island, Sancho, to the steward, the secretary, the head steward, and Doctor Recio

freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts heaven has given men; no treasures the earth contains or the sea conceals can equal it; for freedom, as for honor, one can and should risk one's life, and, on the contrary, captivity is the greatest evil that can befall men.

Part Two: Ricote, Roque, and Barcelona, Don Quixote, to Sancho, on leaving the dukes' castle

Dulcinea del Toboso is the most beautiful woman in the world, and I the most unfortunate knight on earth, and it is not right that my weakness should defraud this truth. Tighten your grip on the lance, knight, and take my life, for you have taken my honor.

Part Two: The Defeat and Death, Don Quixote, knocked down on the beach at Barcelona, to the Knight of the White Moon

give me your congratulations, good sirs, that I am no longer Don Quixote de la Mancha, but Alonso Quijano, to whom my ways gave the name of the Good. I am now an enemy of Amadís of Gaul and of the whole endless host of his lineage.

Part Two: The Defeat and Death, Don Quixote, to the priest, the bachelor, and the barber, on waking sick at home