Baltasar Gracian Quotes
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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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Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.
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Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
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Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
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If to talk to oneself when alone is folly, it must be doubly unwise to listen to oneself in the presence of others.
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Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.
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A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself.
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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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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.
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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.
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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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It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
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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.]
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The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them.
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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.
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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.
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Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else.
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La galantería y la honra tienen esta ventaja, que se quedan: aquélla en quien la usa, ésta en quien la haze.
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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.
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Lies always come first, dragging fools along by their irreparable vulgarity. Truth always lags last, limping along on the arm of time.
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When you find Fortune favorable, stride boldly forward, for she favors the bold, and being a woman, the young.
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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.
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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.
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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