Baltasar Gracian Quotes
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The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.
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Know or listen to those who know.
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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.
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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.
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Have friends. 'Tis a second existence.
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The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
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It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.
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A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
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Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
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Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
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Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.
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Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.
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We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend.
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There are friendships merely for pleasure, some for the exchange of ideas. Rarest are those friends of one's inmost self.
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It takes more to make one sage today than it did to make the seven of Greece. And you need more resources to deal with a single person these days than with an entire nation in times past.
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Evil report carries further than any applause.
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Display startling novelty-rise afresh like the sun every day. Change too the scene on which you shine, so that you rloss may be felt in the old scenes of your triumph, while the novelty of your powers wins applause in the new.
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The wise have a solid sense of silence and the ability to keep a storehouse of secrets. Their capacity and character are respected.
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Begin with another's to end with your own.
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What is not seen is as if it was not. Even the Right does not receive proper consideration if it does not seem right.
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It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.
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There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
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It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.
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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.