Baltasar gracian quotes

Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.

When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.

Always act as if you were seen.

Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it.

Do not commit yourself to anybody or anything, for that is to be a slave, a slave to every man Above all, keep yourself free of commitments and obligations - they are the device of another to get you into his power

Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.

An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.

True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one.

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

Do pleasant things yourself, but unpleasant things through others.

There are rules to luck, not everything is chance for the wise; luck can be helped by skill.

Wisdom is immortal. She can wait forever, but you cannot.

Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.

Rate the intensive above the extensive. The perfect does not lie in quantity, but in quality.

Be first the master of yourself

Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste.

The best skill at cards is knowing when to discard.

Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.

Sometimes it proves the highest understanding not to understand.

Many pleasant things are better when they belong to someone else. When things belong to others, we enjoy them twice as much, without the risk of losing them, and with the pleasure of novelty.

You can cultivate taste, as you can the intellect. Full understanding whets the appetite and desire, and, later, sharpens the enjoyment of possession.

You should avoid making yourself too clear even in your explanations.

Do not be inaccessible. None is so perfect that he does not need at times the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who will never listen to any one. Even the most surpassing intellect should find a place for friendly counsel. Sovereignty itself must learn to lean. There are some that are incorrigible simply because they are inaccessible: They fall to ruin because none dares to extricate them. The highest should have the door open for friendship; it may prove the gate of help. A friend must be free to advise, and even to upbraid, without feeling embarrassed.

If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear, an unhappy state of happiness.

You should aim to be independent of any one vote, of any one fashion, of any one century.

It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.

It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.

Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.

When a man's knowledge is deep, he speaks well of an enemy. Instead of seeking revenge, he extends unexpected generosity. He turns insult into humor, ... and astonishes his adversary who finds no reason not to trust him.

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.

Mix a little mystery with everything, for mystery arouses veneration.

Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.

When everyone covets something, they are easily annoyed by it.

There is no need to show your ability before everyone.

Knowledge and courage take turns at greatness.

All men are idolators, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.

Never lose your self-respect, nor be too familiar with yourself when you are alone. Let your integrity itself be your own standard of rectitude, and be more indebted to the severity of your own judgment of yourself than to all external percepts. Desist from unseemly conduct, rather out of respect for your own virtue than for the strictures of external authority.

Share weight and woe, for misfortune falls with double force on him that stands alone.

Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen. If you can’t be good, be careful.

Some are satisfied to stand politely before the portals of Fortune and to await her bidding; better those who push forward, who employ their enterprise, who on the wings of their worth and valor seek to embrace luck, and to effectively gain her favor.

Tis by no means the least of life's rules: To let things alone.

Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.

The hossanas of the multitude can never bring satisfaction to the discerning. Yet there exist those chamaleons of popularity who find their joy, not in the sweet breath of Apollo, but in the smell of the crowd. And not in mind: Do not be taken in by what are miracles to the populace, for the ignorant do not rise above marveling. Thus the stupidity of a crowd is lost in admiration, even as the brain of an individual uncovers the trick.

The liar suffers twice: he neither believes nor is believed.

At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all.

Possession hinders enjoyment. It merely gives you the right to keep things for or from others, and thus you gain more enemies than friends.

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.

Words are feminine; deeds are masculine.

Never participate in the secrets of those above you; you think you share the fruit, and you share the stones - the confidence of a prince is not a grant, but a tax

We have more days to live through than pleasures. Be slow in enjoyment, quick at work, for men see work ended with pleasure, pleasure ended with regret.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.

The wise have a solid sense of silence and the ability to keep a storehouse of secrets. Their capacity and character are respected.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.

Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.

Know how to play the card of contempt. It is the most politic kind of revenge. For there are many of whom we should have known nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness.

He who laughs at everything is as big a fool as he who weeps at everything.

The greatest service you can render someone else is helping him help himself.

Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages.

Hurry is the weakness of fools.

Know how to choose well. Most of life depends thereon. It needs good taste and correct judgment, for which neither intellect nor study suffices.

Don't lie, but don't tell the whole truth.

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.

Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do.

Do not make mistakes about character. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.

It is a great deed to leave nothing for tomorrow.

If you are wise, live as you can; if you cannot, live as you would.

Help others solve their problems; standing farther away, you can often see matters more clearly than they do. . . The greatest service you can render someone else is helping him or her help themselves.

Silence is the sanctuary of prudence.

Hear, see, and be silent.

Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.

Treat your enemies with courtesy, and you'll see how valuable it really is. It costs little but pays a nice dividend: those who honor are honored. Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

Leave your luck while still winning.

The best remedy for disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down.

The wise persono would rather see others needing him than thanking him.

The great art of giving consists in this the gift should cost very little and yet be greatly coveted, so that it may be the more highly appreciated.

Truth is for the minority.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.

To find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

Politeness is the chief sign of culture.

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.

Life is a warfare against the malice of others.

To overvalue something is a form of lying.

Do not be held a cheat, even though it is impossible to live today without being one. Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what looks like cunning.

Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.

Keep the extent of your abilities unknown.The wise man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be honored at all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely. For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great.

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.

There are friendships merely for pleasure, some for the exchange of ideas. Rarest are those friends of one's inmost self.

Know what is evil, no matter how worshipped it may be. Let the man of sense not mistake it, even when clothed in brocade, or at times crowned in gold, because it cannot thereby hide its hypocrisy, for slavery does not lose its infamy, however noble the master.

You may be obliged to wage war, but not to use poisoned arrows.

Take care to make things turn out well. Some people scruple more over pointing things in the right direction than over successfully reaching their goals. The disgrace of failure outweighs the diligence they showed. A winner is never asked for explanations.

One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

A gilded No is more satisfactory than a dry Yes.

Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool. The faultier a person's judgement the firmer their convictions.

Know how to keep anticipation alive: always strive to feed it, by letting the much promise more, and the one achievement be the announcement only of a greater. Put not all your reserves into the first throw; the great trick is to dole out strength, and to dole out mind, in such a fashion as to bring forward increasingly the fulfillment of what was expected of you.

Self knowledge is the beginning of self improvement.

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

None is so perfect that he does not need at times the advice of others.

No' and 'Yes' are words quickly said, but they need a great amount of thought before you utter them.

You have to appear wiser and more prudent than is required by the people you are dealing with if you want to give a high opinion of yourself.

Superiority is always detested.

A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself.

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.

The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.

Know or listen to those who know.

To oblige people often costs little and helps much.

A prudent man will think more important what fate has conceded to him, than what it has denied.

The wise are always impatient, for he that increases knowledge increases impatience of folly.

God Himself chasteneth not with a rod but with time.

The greatest wisdom often consist in ignorance.