The evil for him who goes to look for it

The evil for him who goes to look for it is a proverb Sancho Panza turns into a practical plea for caution when Don Quixote insists on pursuing a frightening adventure in the dark. Its force in the scene comes from the contrast between Sancho’s concrete fears and his master’s resolve to act according to his knightly character.

Form and Meaning

Sancho invokes the saying in two closely related forms. First, he recalls the curate’s preaching that he who seeks danger perishes in it; then, as he tries to persuade Don Quixote to turn back, he appeals to the maxim “the evil for him that goes to look for it,” which he attributes to Cato Zonzorino the Roman. In both formulations, the warning is not simply that danger exists, but that deliberately pursuing it makes the seeker answerable for the peril.

Sancho’s Appeal

The proverb belongs to a sustained argument, not an abstract reflection. Sancho points out that it is night, no one is there to witness a retreat, and no one need mistake prudence for cowardice. He warns that the feat offers no escape except by a miracle, recalling how Heaven has already delivered Don Quixote from being blanketed and from the enemies surrounding the dead man. He also pleads from personal fear: he has left his wife and children to serve his master, hoped for the promised island, and now fears being abandoned far from human habitation. As a final practical alternative, he asks Don Quixote to delay until morning, reasoning from the stars as he remembers them from his shepherding days.

Dramatic Use

Don Quixote answers Sancho’s concern about the hour by challenging his ability to identify the stars in a sky so dark that none can be seen. He refuses to rest in the presence of danger and leaves the choice of their road in his own hands. Sancho then tries to make the proverb work through a story: he presents it as a fitting reason not to go looking for trouble and urges them to take another route. Don Quixote permits him to continue the tale but again reserves the decision about where they travel. The saying thus becomes a compact expression of their opposed approaches: Sancho treats avoidable danger as a warning to withdraw, while Don Quixote treats danger as a test to be met.