Baltasar Gracian Quotes
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Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.
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A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
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To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else.
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To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
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Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.
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True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
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Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.
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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.
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Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.
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Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
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Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.
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Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
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It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.
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Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.
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Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
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Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
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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.
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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.
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One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
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Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.
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When desire dies, fear is born.
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He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.
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Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
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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.