Pedro Calderón de la Barca Quotes

Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño , usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest. Born when the Spanish Golden Age theatre was being defined by Lope de Vega, he developed it further, his work being regarded as the culmination of the Spanish Baroque theatre. As such, he is regarded as one of Spain's foremost dramatists and one of the finest playwrights of world literature. Wikipedia  

✵ 17. January 1600 – 25. May 1681
Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

Works

Life is a Dream
Life is a Dream
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca: 8   quotes 12   likes

Famous Pedro Calderón de la Barca Quotes

“But whether it be dream or truth, to do well is what matters. If it be truth, for truth's sake. If not, then to gain friends for the time when we awaken.”

Mas, sea verdad o sueño,
obrar bien es lo que importa.
Si fuere verdad, por serlo;
si no, por ganar amigos
para cuando despertemos.
Segismundo, Act III, l. 236.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)

“The treason past, the traitor is no longer needed.”

El traidor no es menester
siendo la traición pasada.
Segismundo, Act III, l. 1109.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)

“For man's greatest crime is to have been born.”

Pues el delito mayor
Del hombre es haber nacido.
Segismundo, Act I, Scene II.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)
Variant: Since man's greatest crime on earth
Is the fatal fact of birth.
(trans. Denis MacCarthy)

“What surprises you, if a dream taught me this wisdom, and if I still fear I may wake up and find myself once more confined in prison? And even if this should not happen, merely to dream it is enough. For this I have come to know, that all human happiness finally ceases, like a dream.”

¿Qué os espanta,
si fue mi maestro un sueño,
y estoy temiendo, en mis ansias,
que he de despertar y hallarme
otra vez en mi cerrada
prisión? Y cuando no sea,
el soñarlo sólo basta;
pues así llegué a saber
que toda la dicha humana,
en fin, pasa como sueño.
Segismundo, Act III, l. 1114.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)

“These flowers, which were splendid and sprightly,
Waking in the dawn of the morning,
In the evening will be a pitiful frivolity,
Sleeping in the cold night’s arms.”

Éstas que fueron pompa y alegría
despertando al albor de la mañana,
a la tarde serán lástima vana
durmiendo en brazos de la noche fría.
A las flores ("Éstas, que fueron pompa y alegría") http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/A_las_flores_%28Calder%C3%B3n_de_la_Barca%29.

“What is life? A madness. What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story. And the greatest good is little enough: for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.”

¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.
¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño;
que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.
Variant:
What is this life? A frenzy, an illusion,
A shadow, a delirium, a fiction.
The greatest good's but little, and this life
Is but a dream, and dreams are only dreams.
(trans. Roy Campbell)
Segismundo, Act II, l. 1195.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)

“If you cannot reconcile yourself to the law, remain in the cradle.”

Que si a la Ley no te ajustas, quedó en la cuna labrada la materia de la tumba.
Segismundo, Act I, l. 956-958.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)

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