Baltasar Gracian Quotes

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

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

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

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.

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

Oh life, you should never had begun, but since you did, you should never end

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.

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.

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.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.

There is no wilderness like a life without friends.

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

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.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose. Baltasar Gracian (Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ (January 8, 1601 – December 6, 1658) was a Spanish Jesuit and writer. His proto-existentialist writings were lauded by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.)

Die Freiheit ist kostbarer als jedes Geschenk, das dich verleiten mag, sie aufzugeben.

Baltasar Gracian’s The Art of Worldly Wisdom, a seventeenth-century guidebook by a Spanish Jesuit priest on how to retain one’s integrity while navigating the halls of power.

Never lose your self-respect, nor be too familiar with yourself when you are alone. Let your integrity itself be your own standard of rectitude, and be more indebted to the severity of your own judgment of yourself than to all external precepts. Desist from unseemly conduct, rather out of respect for your own virtue than for the strictures of external authority.

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

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

The seventeenth-century Spanish Jesuit Baltasar Gracian wrote that “life without friends is like life on a desert island,” adding that to find and keep even one deep friendship in life is the greatest of blessings. Of

Contestat și elogiat cu egală vehemență încă din timpul vieții și pînă în zilele noastre, el [Baltasar Gracian] este autorul dificil al celei mai dificile opere în proză din literatura spaniolă, după cum o spun chiar conaționalii săi.

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

Düşüncelerinizi çok açık seçik dile getirmeyin. Çoğu insan anladığı şeyleri küçümser, anlamadıklarına saygı duyar. -Baltasar Gracian

Baltasar Gracian’s The Art of Worldly Wisdom,

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone. ― Baltasar Gracian The moon can never become a star; its individuality remains unique, and it matters. ― Ehsan Sehgal

Never do anything when you have a temper, for you will do everything wrong.” — Baltasar Gracian