Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavor. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud and artificial instead of being the product of nature, and the natural is always more pleasing than the artificial. One always feels sure that the man who affects a virtue has it not.


The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

Baltasar Gracián Quotes

Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavor. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud...

Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavor. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud...

Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavor. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud...

Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavor. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud...