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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.
Baltasar Gracian -
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
Baltasar Gracian
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Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
Baltasar Gracian -
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.
Baltasar Gracian -
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.
Baltasar Gracian -
There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness.
Baltasar Gracian -
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.
Baltasar Gracian -
If to talk to oneself when alone is folly, it must be doubly unwise to listen to oneself in the presence of others.
Baltasar Gracian
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The heaven of the envied is hell for the envious. [...because they focus on what they don't have rather than being grateful for what they have, which is always better than some others.]
Baltasar Gracian -
The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them.
Baltasar Gracian -
Attain and maintain a reputation, for it is the usufruct of fame. A stiff climb, for it is the issue of excellence, as rare as mediocrity is common.
Baltasar Gracian -
When you find Fortune favorable, stride boldly forward, for she favors the bold, and being a woman, the young.
Baltasar Gracian -
La galantería y la honra tienen esta ventaja, que se quedan: aquélla en quien la usa, ésta en quien la haze.
Baltasar Gracian -
No one demands more caution than a spy, and when someone has the skeleton key to minds, counter him by leaving the key of caution inside, on the other side of the keyhole.
Baltasar Gracian
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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.
Baltasar Gracian -
Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else.
Baltasar Gracian -
Lies always come first, dragging fools along by their irreparable vulgarity. Truth always lags last, limping along on the arm of time.
Baltasar Gracian -
There is no wilderness like a life without friends; friendship multiplies blessings and minimizes misfortunes; it is a unique remedy against adversity, and it soothes the soul.
Baltasar Gracian -
One deceit needs many others, and so the whole house is built in the air and must soon come to the ground
Baltasar Gracian -
Many get the repute of being witty but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has its little hour, seriousness should have all the rest.
Baltasar Gracian
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There are certain inessential activities-moths of precious time-and it is worse to busy yourself with the trivial than to do nothing.
Baltasar Gracian -
Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.
Baltasar Gracian -
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
Baltasar Gracian -
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.
Baltasar Gracian