Baltasar Gracián was a Jesuit, baroque prose author, philosopher, and theologian from Spain. His books “The Art of Worldly Wisdom” and “Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia” are the two he is most famous for. Gracián was a 16-year-old when he joined the Society of Jesus. He was born in Belmonte, Aragon, Spain. He created several writings on a variety of subjects, including as politics, religion, and ethics. He was a prolific writer. Wittiness, lucidity, and irony are characteristics of Gracián’s writing, and his works are still read and studied today.
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Baltasar Gracián Quotes
- He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other’s slave.
- Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.
- He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.
- Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
- Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
- 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 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.
- True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
- It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.
- One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
- Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
- Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
- Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.
- Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
- Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
- Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
- The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
- Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
- Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
- A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
- Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.
- 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.
- Don’t take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
- There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled.
- Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.
- We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend.
- Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.
- 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.
- A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
- Have friends. ‘Tis a second existence.
- 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.
- Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.
- It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.
- A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
- 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.
