Know how to choose well. Most of life depends thereon. It needs good taste and correct judgment, for which neither intellect nor study suffices.
Baltasar GracianNever participate in the secrets of those above you; you think you share the fruit, and you share the stones - the confidence of a prince is not a grant, but a tax
Baltasar GracianNature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
Baltasar GracianDon't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
Baltasar GracianThere are rules to luck, not everything is chance for the wise; luck can be helped by skill.
Baltasar GracianYou should aim to be independent of any one vote, of any one fashion, of any one century.
Baltasar GracianThe sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them.
Baltasar GracianA prudent man will think more important what fate has conceded to him, than what it has denied.
Baltasar GracianMost do violence to their natural aptitude, and thus attain superiority in nothing.
Baltasar GracianThe passions are the humors of the mind, and the least excess sickens our judgment. If the disease spreads to the mouth, your reputation will be in danger.
Baltasar GracianNothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another's fame.
Baltasar GracianYou have to appear wiser and more prudent than is required by the people you are dealing with if you want to give a high opinion of yourself.
Baltasar GracianOne should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.
Baltasar GracianWhat is not seen is as if it was not. Even the Right does not receive proper consideration if it does not seem right.
Baltasar GracianAt 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 GracianOne must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
Baltasar GracianRate the intensive above the extensive. The perfect does not lie in quantity, but in quality.
Baltasar GracianDo not make Mistakes about Character. That is the worst and yet easiest error. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods. In dealing with men, more than with other things, it is necessary to look within. To know men is different from knowing things. It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.
Baltasar GracianMany get the repute of being witty but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has its little hour, seriousness should have all the rest.
Baltasar GracianWatchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.
Baltasar Gracian