Baltasar Gracián > Quotes

“Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.”
― Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”
― Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.”
― Baltasar Gracian

“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“The best skill at cards is knowing when to discard.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.”
― Baltasar Gracian

“Keep the extent of your abilities unknown.The wise man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be honored at all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely. For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“For the advice in a joke is sometimes more useful than the most serious teaching.”
― Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

“Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.”
― Baltasar Gracian

“A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.”
― Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

“Be first the master of yourself”
― Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

“One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward
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― Baltasar Gracian

“Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itself.”
― Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

“There are rules to luck, not everything is chance for the wise; luck can be helped by skill.”
― Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

“Life is a warfare against the malice of others.”
― Balthasar Gracian

“Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“Never exaggerate. It is a matter of great importance to forego superlatives, in part to avoid offending the truth, and in part to avoid cheapening your judgment. Exaggeration wastes distinction and testifies to the paucity of your understanding and taste. Praise excites anticipation and stimulates desire. Afterwards when value does not measure up to price, disappointment turns against the fraud and takes revenge by cheapening both the appraised and the appraise. For this reason let the prudent go slowly, and err in understatement rather than overstatement. The extraordinary of every kind is always rare, wherefore temper your estimate.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“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 a good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.”
― Baltasar Gracian

“Oh life, you should never had begun, but since you did, you should never end”
― Baltasar Gracian

“He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“The great art of giving consists in this the gift should cost very little and yet be greatly coveted, so that it may be the more highly appreciated.”
― Baltasar Gracian

“Do not enter where too much is anticipated. It is the misfortune of the over-celebrated that they cannot measure up to excessive expectations. The actual can never attain the imagined: for to think perfection is easy, but to embody it is most difficult. The imagination weds the wish, and together they always conjure up more than reality can furnish. For however great may be a person's virtues, the will never measure up to what was imagined. When people see themselves cheated in their extravagant anticipations, they turn more quickly to disparagement than to praise. Hope is a great falsifier of the truth; the the intelligence put her right by seeing to it that the fruit is superior to its appetite. You will make a better exit when the actual transcends the imagined, and is more than was expected.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“There's no greater absurdity than taking everything seriously.”
― Baltasar Gracián, How to Use Your Enemies

“Knowledge without courage is sterile.”
― Balthasar 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

“The right kind of leisure is better than the wrong kind of work.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

“When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle