Don Quixote: Sancho Panza Quotes

Your grace, señor Knight-errant, I hope your worship will not forget the same island which you have promised me, and which I warrant myself able to govern, let it be as great as it will.

As Don Quixote and Sancho travel, Sancho reminds Don Quixote of the island Don Quixote promised to let Sancho govern in exchange for his help on these adventures. Sancho frequently reminds Don Quixote of his promise throughout the novel, showing that his loyalty to Don Quixote does not solely stem from affection for his master, but also from his desire for wealth and power.

Sancho alone believed that everything his master said was true; because he knew his family, and had been acquainted with himself from his cradle. The only doubt that he entertained was of the same beautiful Dulcinea del Toboso; for, never had such a name or such a princess come within the sphere of his observation, altho’ he lived in the neighbourhood of that place.

As Don Quixote talks to the goatherds about his love for Dulcinea and knight-errantry, the narrator points out that Sancho alone among his audience takes what Don Quixote says at face value. Readers can see Sancho’s gullibility, since he believes all of Don Quixote’s tales and questions only the identity of Dulcinea.

All this time Sancho remained upon the hill, beholding, with amazement, the madness of his master, tearing his beard, and cursing the hour and minute on which it was his fate to know him[.]

The narrator describes a scene when Don Quixote charges into herds of sheep which he believes to be armies of knights while Sancho looks on with anger and amazement from a hill. Even though Sancho shows his gullibility at times, he also acknowledges Don Quixote’s madness when he sees irrefutable evidence, such as his master attacking sheep or windmills. Sancho’s loyalty seems to falter here as he becomes frustrated, but he never leaves Don Quixote.

When Sancho heard him call the basin a helmet, he could not refrain from laughing, but, remembering the indignation of his master, checked his mirth all of a sudden; and when Don Quixote asked what he laughed at, replied, “I can’t help laughing when I think of the huge head of the pagan who owned that helmet, which looks for all the world like a barber’s basin.”

The narrator explains that when Don Quixote represents a simple basin as a helmet belonging to the knight Mambrino, Sancho initially laughs at him. However, Sancho understands that Don Quixote becomes upset when laughed at, so he quickly comes up with an excuse for his laughter. Though Sancho seems simpleminded for most of the novel, he catches on quickly to the moods of Don Quixote.

Señor Don Quixote, I vow and swear your worship is crazy, else you would never boggle at marrying such a high-born princess as this! Do you imagine that fortune will offer such good luck at every turn, as she now presents? or pray, do you think my lady Dulcinea more handsome than the princess? I am sure she is not half so beautiful, and will even venture to say, that she is not worthy to tie her majesty’s shoe-strings.

Sancho becomes frustrated with Don Quixote after he refuses Dorothea’s offer of marriage. Even though Sancho accepts Don Quixote’s madness and knows that Dorothea is not actually a princess, Sancho sometimes cannot help but believe what Don Quixote believes. Sancho also reveals the importance he places on class, wealth, and beauty by suggesting that Don Quixote give up Dulcinea in exchange for those things.

Don’t stand here listening, but, go in and part the fray, or lend your assistance to my master; tho’ I believe that will be needless by this time; for, the giant is certainly dead, and giving an account to God, of his wicked and misspent life[.]

Sancho interrupts the priest’s story to tell everyone that Don Quixote vanquished the imaginary giant described by Dorothea. The group goes into the bedroom to find Don Quixote dreaming. Even though Sancho maintains his sanity, he possesses gullibility and believes that Don Quixote has truly destroyed the giant. Sancho shows his loyalty to his master by demanding that everyone in the inn come admire him.

When Sancho heard this firm resolution of his master, the sky began to blacken, and down flagged the wings of his heart in a moment; for, he had believed, that the knight would not set out without him, for all the wealth in the world.

The narrator describes Sancho’s reaction when Quixote refuses to pay him a salary and tells Sancho he will go on without him. Sancho feels astonished that Don Quixote would leave him behind. Sancho believed Don Quixote felt as loyal to him as he felt toward Don Quixote. Even though Sancho was originally motivated by money, as the novel progresses he becomes driven only by loyalty to his master.

Previous section Don Quixote de la Mancha Next section Rocinante