Quotes from work
Life is a Dream

Life is a Dream
Pedro Calderón de la Barca Original title La vida es sueño (Spanish)

Life Is a Dream is a Spanish-language play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. First published in 1635 during the Spanish Baroque period , it is a philosophical allegory regarding the human situation and the mystery of life. The play has been described as "the supreme example of Spanish Golden Age drama". The story focuses on the fictional Segismundo, Prince of Poland, who has been imprisoned in a tower by his father, King Basilio, following a dire prophecy that the prince would bring disaster to the country and death to the King. Basilio briefly frees Segismundo, but when the prince goes on a rampage, the king imprisons him again, persuading him that it was all a dream.


Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

“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)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

“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)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

“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)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

“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)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

“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)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo

“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)

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