Baltasar Gracian

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.

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

Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.

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.

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

Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.

Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.

Politeness is the chief sign of culture.

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.

Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.

Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.

Evil report carries further than any applause.

The wise man learns more from his enemies than the fool does from his friends.

Have friends. Tis a second existence.

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.

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 good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.

There is no wilderness like a life without friends.

Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itself.

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.

Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.

One deceit needs many others and so the whole house is built in the air and must soon come to the ground

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

The wise are always impatient, for he that increases knowledge increases impatience of folly.

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

Look into the interior of things. Things are generally other than they seem and ignorance that never looks beneath the rind is disillusioned when you show the kernel.

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

Not he that adorns but he that adores makes a divinity.

When desire dies, fear is born.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

When desire dies fear is born.

It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.

Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.

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

An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.

We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend.

All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.

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

Never do anything when you are in a temper for you will do everything wrong.

Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.

What should move us to action is human dignity the inalienable dignity of the oppressed but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable.

He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.

Do not be held a cheat even though it is impossible to live today without being one. Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what looks like cunning.

Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

Do pleasant things yourself, but unpleasant things through others.

To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.

It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.

Superiority is always detested.

Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.

Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.

Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.

Nothing arouses ambition so much as the trumpet clang of another's fame

It is better to have too much courtesy than too little provided you are not equally courteous to all for that would be injustice.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.

There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness.

Begin with another's to end with your own.

Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.

The things we remember best are those better forgotten.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.

Know or listen to those who know.

Have friends. 'Tis a second existence.

Possession hinders enjoyment. It merely gives you the right to keep things for or from others, and thus you gain more enemies than friends.

The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.

It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else.

Most do violence to their natural aptitude, and thus attain superiority in nothing.

I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.

One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else.

There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled.

To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.

Work is the price which is paid for reputation.

Good things when short are twice as good.

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.

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.

Rivalry discovers that courtesy overlooks.

At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all.

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.