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"Strike While The Iron Is Hot"
(Magill's Quotations in Context)
Context: Don Quixote de la Mancha, disordered in mind, is out with his squire, Sancho Panza, in search of adventures to perform for the honor of his lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. Despairing of his sanity, one of his friends, Samson Carrasco, disguised as a knight, defeats Don Quixote and demands that he discontinue his adventures for a year. On their way home, Don Quixote and Sancho discuss the recent defeat. Sancho is disgusted because "Altisidora had bilk'd him of the Smocks she promised him." Feeling that he should do penance with 3300 lashes delivered by himself upon his own back, Don Quixote promises to pay Sancho for this self-imposed contrition. Because he needs the money, Sancho...
(The entire section is 238 words.)