(1547 - 1616)
En route from Italy to Spain in 1575, the poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes was captured by Barbary pirates, enslaved in Algeria, and freed five years later when his family paid his ransom. In 1604 Cervantes sold the rights to Part I of his novel Don Quixote, and though it became an international success, he received no royalties. He died in Madrid at the age of sixty-eight in 1616.
The beginning of health lies in knowing the disease.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615A private sin is not so prejudicial in this world as a public indecency.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615He who sings frightens away his ills.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605Well now, there’s a remedy for everything except death.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605Modesty is a virtue not often found among poets, for almost every one of them thinks himself the greatest in the world.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615
