Remember the old saying, “Faint heart ne’er won fair lady.”

The proverb means that timidity and hesitation rarely lead to romantic success: winning a “fair lady” requires courage, initiative, and persistence. In a Cervantine setting, such a saying would also carry an ironic edge, since chivalric maxims are often invoked to justify bold (sometimes reckless) action in pursuit of idealized love. The line’s phrasing (“Remember the old saying…”) frames it explicitly as inherited folk wisdom rather than an original aphorism, emphasizing how characters lean on conventional moral formulas to guide (or rationalize) their behavior.

“Faint heart never won fair lady.”
“Faint heart ne’er won a fair lady.”
“Faint heart ne’er won fair maid.”