Don Quixote to Sancho Panza.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish novelist, poet and playwright, 1547-1616:

• Oh, my son! You must fear God, because in fearing Him lies wisdom, and being wise you cannot err.
• You must set your eyes on who you are, trying to know yourself, which is the most difficult knowledge.
• From knowing yourself will come the ability not to puff yourself up.
• Show off, Sancho, the humility of your lineage, and do not despise saying that you come from farmers, because seeing that you do not shy away, no one will try to shy away from you.
• There is no reason to envy princes and lords, because blood is inherited, and virtue is acquired, and virtue is worth it on its own.
• Try to discover the truth among the promises and gifts of the rich as well as among the sobs and importunities of the poor.
• Do not burden the criminal with all the rigor of the law; for the reputation of a rigorous judge is no better than that of a compassionate one.
• If you should bend the rod of justice, do not do so with the weight of a gift, but with that of mercy.
• If a beautiful woman comes to ask you for justice, take your eyes off her tears and your ears off her moans, and consider slowly the substance of what she asks, if you do not want your reason to be drowned in her tears and your goodness in her sighs.
• Consider the guilty person who falls under your jurisdiction as a miserable man, subject to the conditions of our depraved nature.

If you follow these precepts and these rules, Sancho, your days will be long, your fame will be eternal, your rewards abundant, your happiness unspeakable; you will marry your children as you wish; they and your grandchildren will have titles; You will live in peace and in the good graces of people, and in the last steps of life, death will reach you in a gentle and mature old age, and tender and delicate hands will close your eyes. What I have told you so far are documents that will adorn your soul.