“ Breaking is an easy matter, And it's folly to expose What you cannot mend to blows; What you can't make whole to shatter. ”
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605). copy citation
| Author | Miguel de Cervantes |
|---|---|
| Source | Don Quixote |
| Topic | breaking folly |
| Date | 1605 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by John Ormsby |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/996/996-h/996-h.htm |
Context
“A prudent old man was giving advice to another, the father of a young girl, to lock her up, watch over her and keep her in seclusion, and among other arguments he used these: Woman is a thing of glass; But her brittleness 'tis best Not too curiously to test: Who knows what may come to pass? Breaking is an easy matter, And it's folly to expose What you cannot mend to blows; What you can't make whole to shatter. This, then, all may hold as true, And the reason's plain to see; For if Danaes there be, There are golden showers too. "All that I have said to thee so far, Anselmo, has had reference to what concerns thee;”
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