Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Pedro Calderon de la Barca
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...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionDramatist
Date of Birth17 January 1600
CountrySpain
For all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.
All life is a dream, and all dreams are dreams.
And yet, and yet, in these our ghostly lives, Half night, half day, half sleeping, half awake, How if our waking life, like that of sleep, Be all a dream in that eternal life To which we wake not till we sleep in death
Our treasures trifles seem, and all our life is dreaming, and the dreams themselves are dreams.
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.
For even in dreams a good deed is not lost.
Dreams are rough copies of the waking soul Yet uncorrected of the higher will, So that men sometimes in their dreams confess An unsuspected, or forgotten, self; -Since Dreaming, Madness, Passion, are akin In missing each that salutory rein Of reason, and the grinding will of man.
Even in dreams doing good is not wasted.
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.
'Tis not where we lie, but whence we fell; the loss of heaven's the greatest pain in hell.
To the King, one must give his possessions and his life; but honour is a possession of soul, and the soul is only God's.
Grief has been compared to a hydra; for every one that dies, two are born.
Great events have sent before them their announcements.
The fox is very cunning, but he is more cunning who catches the fox.