So loud was the wailing of the women and children that there was not one man among us whose heart did not bleed at the sound.

- Hernando Cortes

He travels safest in the dark night who travels lightest.

- Hernando Cortes

For I assure Your Majesty that if God had not mysteriously assisted us and the victory had gone to Narváez, it would have been the greatest harm that…

- Hernando Cortes

Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for w…

- Hernando Cortes

Chocolate is the divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day witho…

- Hernando Cortes

The priests are debarred from female society, nor is any woman permitted to enter the religious houses.

- Hernando Cortes

An abundant supply of excellent water, forming a volume equal in bulk to the human body, is conveyed by one of these pipes, and distributed about the…

- Hernando Cortes

The meals were served in a large hall, in which Moctezuma was accustomed to eat, and the dishes quite filled the room, which was covered with mats an…

- Hernando Cortes

Thus they have an idol that they petition for victory in war; another for success in their labors; and so for everything in which they seek or desire…

- Hernando Cortes