understanding are requisite for
an historian.

Wit and humor belong to genius alone.

The wittiest person in the comedy is he that plays the fool.

History is a sacred subject, because the soul of it is
truth; and where truth is, there the divinity will reside;
yet there are some who compose and cast off books as if they
were tossing up a dish of pancakes.

There is no book so bad but something good may be found in
it.

Printed works may be read leisurely, their defects easily
seen, so they are scrutinized more or less strictly in
proportion to the celebrity of the author.

"Men of great talents, whether poets or historians, seldom
escape the attacks of those who, without ever favoring the
world with any production of their own, take delight in
criticising the works of others."

"Nor can we wonder at that," said Don Quixote, "when we observe the same
practice among divines, who, though dull enough in the pulpit
themselves, are wonderfully sharp-sighted in discovering the defects of
other preachers."

"True, indeed, Signor Don Quixote," said Carrasco; "I wish critics would
be less fastidious, nor dwell so much upon the motes which may be
discerned even in the brightest works; for, though _aliquando bonus
dormitat Homerus_, they ought to consider how much he was awake to
produce a work with so much light and so little shade; nay, perhaps even
his seeming blemishes are like moles, which are sometimes thought to be
rather an improvement to beauty. But it cannot be denied that whoever
publishes a book to the world, exposes himself to imminent peril, since,
of all things, nothing is more impossible than to satisfy everybody.
Above all, I would let my master know that, if he takes me with him, it
must be upon condition that he shall battle it all himself, and that I
shall only have to tend his person--I mean, look after his clothes and
food; all which I will do with a hearty good-will; but if he expects I
will lay hand to my sword, though it be only against beggarly
wood-cutters with hooks and hatchets, he is very much mistaken. I,
Signor Sampson, do not set up for being the most valiant, but the best
and most faithful squire that ever served knight-errant; and if my lord
Don Quixote, in consideration of my many and good services, shall please
to bestow on me some one of the many islands his worship says he shall
light upon, I shall be much beholden to him for the favor; and if he