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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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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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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Have friends. 'Tis a second existence.
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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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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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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.
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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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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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There must be something good in a thing that pleases so many; even if it cannot be explained, it is certainly enjoyed.
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The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
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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
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He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.
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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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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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Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
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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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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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There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
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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.
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Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do.
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Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.