Baltasar Gracian Quotes
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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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A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
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Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.
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Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
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The things we remember best are those better forgotten.
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He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.
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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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A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
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Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.
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Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
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To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
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Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.
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Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.
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Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
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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.
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He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.
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Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.
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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 sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
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True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
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When desire dies, fear is born.
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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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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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Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.