Parallelism

Sentences or verses in a row with the same construction, so that the reader compares what changes from one to the next.

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.

The two phrases "from light to light" and "from murk to murk" share the same construction and measure nights and days by the same count, which gives the sentence the rhythm of a routine repeated until the wits are lost.

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

I was born free, and to live free I chose the solitude of the fields. The trees of these mountains are my company, and the clear waters of these streams my mirrors.

Part One: Marcela and the Inn, Marcela, defending herself before the shepherds

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

a woman is good only insofar as she is or is not solicited, and only she is strong who does not yield to the promises, gifts, tears, and continual importunings of solicitous lovers.

Part One: The Curious Impertinent, Anselmo, to Lothario, in the novella read by the priest

you cannot be the lovely Luscinda's, because you are mine, nor can she be yours, because she is Cardenio's; and it will be easier for you, if you think about it, to bend your will to wanting the one who adores you than to steer toward wanting you the one who abhors you.

Part One: The Curious Impertinent, Dorothea, kneeling before Don Fernando

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

who was the ignoramus who signed an arrest warrant against a knight such as I am? Who did not know that knights-errant are exempt from every court of law, and that their law is their sword, their charters their courage, and their decrees their will?

Part One: The Cage and the Canon, Don Quixote, to the constables of the Holy Brotherhood, at the inn

I have seen no book of chivalry that makes a whole body of fable with all its members, so that the middle corresponds to the beginning, and the end to the beginning and the middle [...] and for this reason they deserve to be banished from the Christian commonwealth, like useless people.

Part One: The Cage and the Canon, the canon of Toledo, to the priest, on the way to the village

that is well said, replied Don Quixote. Books printed with the license of kings and with the approval of those to whom they were submitted, and which are read and celebrated with general delight by the great and the small, the poor and the rich, the learned and the ignorant, the common folk and the knights, in short, by every kind of person, of whatever state or condition they may be, were they to be lies? [...] and all the more so as they carry such an appearance of truth, for they tell us of the father, the mother, the homeland, the kin, the age, the place, and the deeds, point by point and day by day, of the knight who did them, or the knights who did.

Part One: The Cage and the Canon, Don Quixote, in reply to the canon of Toledo

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

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

Sancho, since you want me to believe what you saw in the sky, I want you to believe me about what I saw in Montesinos's cave; and I will say no more.

Part Two: The Duke and Duchess and Clavileño, Don Quixote, in Sancho's ear, after the flight of the Cravelenho

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

I neither depose a king nor set one up, replied Sancho, but I help myself, for I am my own master.

Part Two: Ricote, Roque, and Barcelona, Sancho, to his master, when the latter tries to whip him by force

for me only Don Quixote was born, and I for him; he knew how to act and I how to write; only the two of us are made for each other, in spite of and to the chagrin of the feigned Tordesillas writer.

Part Two: The Defeat and Death, Cide Hamete Benengeli, to his pen, as he closes the book