Baltasar Gracián - The Art of Worldly Wisdom

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If there is too much display today there will be nothing to show tomorrow. Always have some novelty with which to dazzle.

Baltasar Gracián
Some die because they feel everything, others because they feel nothing. Some are fools because they suffer no regrets, and others because they do.

Baltasar Gracián
Because the ignorant do not know themselves, they never know for what they are lacking. Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.

Baltasar Gracián
Knowledge and courage. These are the elements of greatness. Because they are immortal they bestow immortality. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. A person without knowledge is in world without light. Wisdom and strength are the eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is sterile.

Baltasar Gracián
Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.

Baltasar Gracián
Freedom is more precious than the gift that makes us lose it.

Baltasar Gracián
Always have your mouth full of sugar to sweeten your words, so that even your ill-wishers enjoy them.

Baltasar Gracián
The best remedy for disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down.

Baltasar Gracián
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than to lie awake about them afterward.

Baltasar Gracián
One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.

Baltasar Gracián
The person who does not know how to put up with others should retire into himself, if indeed he can suffer even himself.

Baltasar Gracián
Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

Baltasar Gracián
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 Gracián
In conversation, discretion is more importance than eloquence.

Baltasar Gracián
The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.

Baltasar Gracián
Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.

Baltasar Gracián
The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.

Baltasar Gracián
Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise.

Baltasar Gracián
Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today.

Baltasar Gracián
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.

Baltasar Gracián