Baltasar Gracian Quotes

"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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Age, Beauty, Truth, Justice, Old, Reason)

"When desire dies, fear is born."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Fear, Desire)

"Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Wisdom, Courage)

"Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Argument, Right, Wrong)

"Evil report carries further than any applause."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Applause, Evil)

"We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend."
- Baltasar Gracian

"A beautiful woman should break her mirror early."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Woman)

"A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Forget, Man)

"A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Lie, Integrity, Reputation)

"Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Advice, Grave, Teaching)

"Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Rest, World)

"Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one."
- Baltasar Gracian

"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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Man, Nothing)

"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 Gracian
(Related: Confidence, May)

"Be content to act, and leave the talking to others."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Act, Content, Talking)

"Begin with another's to end with your own."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: End)

"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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Talent, People, Day, Expectations, Limits, Novelty)

"True knowledge lies in knowing how to live."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Knowledge, Lies)

"Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Knowledge, Fashion, Ignorance)

"A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Enemies, Fool, Friends, Man)

"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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: People, Beginnings, Being)

"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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Favors, Fortune)

"Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Friendship, Life, Evil)

"Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Ability)

"Have friends. 'Tis a second existence."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Existence, Friends)

"He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: God, Nothing)

"He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave."
- Baltasar Gracian

"He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well."
- Baltasar Gracian

"Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Gratitude, Hope, Memory)

"Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Hope, Judgment)

"I strive to be brief, and I become obscure."
- Baltasar Gracian

"It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Luck, Skill, Waiting)

"It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Courtesy, Injustice)

"Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Dreams, Will)

"Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Temper, Will, Wrong)

"Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Dignity, Office)

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

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

"There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Time, Word)

"The wise does at once what the fool does at last."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Fool)

"The things we remember best are those better forgotten."
- Baltasar Gracian

"The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Applause)

"Respect yourself if you would have others respect you."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Respect)

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

"One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Time, 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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Business, Time, Nothing)

"Never have a companion that casts you in the shade."
- Baltasar Gracian

"Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Greatness, Enemies)

"Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Man, Nothing)

"Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Art, Nature)

"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."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Friendship, Life, Fortune)

"Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Chance, Luck)

"Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Happiness, Will)

"Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: First)

"Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Power, Patience, Will)

"Know or listen to those who know."
- Baltasar Gracian

"It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Envy, May, Order)

"It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Lie, Sleep)

"Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Evil, Open)

"Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Time, Word)

"To oblige persons often costs little and helps much."
- Baltasar Gracian

"To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth."
- Baltasar Gracian
(Related: Worth)