Seth Rexilius > Seth's Quotes

“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

“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

“Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“The truths that matter most to us come always half spoken.”
― Balthasar Gracian

“Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool. The faultier a person's judgement the firmer their convictions.”
― Baltasar Gracián

“Cautious silence is the refuge of good sense”
― Baltasar Gracián, How to Use Your Enemies

“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 Gracián

“There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.”
― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom