Popular

Browse Popular Topics

Quotes by Baltasar Gracian


The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
– Baltasar Gracian
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
A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.
– Baltasar Gracian
A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
– Baltasar Gracian
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
– Baltasar Gracian
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
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
Begin with another's to end with your own.
– Baltasar Gracian
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
– Baltasar Gracian
Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.
– Baltasar Gracian
Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
– Baltasar Gracian
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
Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
– Baltasar Gracian
Have friends. 'Tis a second existence.
– Baltasar Gracian
He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.
– Baltasar Gracian
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
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
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
It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.
– Baltasar Gracian
Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.
– Baltasar Gracian
Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.
– Baltasar Gracian
Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.
– Baltasar Gracian
Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.
– Baltasar Gracian
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
– Baltasar Gracian
Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
– Baltasar Gracian
Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
– Baltasar Gracian
Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.
– Baltasar Gracian
Never open the door to the lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
– Baltasar Gracian
Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another's fame.
– Baltasar Gracian
One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
– Baltasar Gracian
Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
– Baltasar Gracian
The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.
– Baltasar Gracian
There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
– Baltasar Gracian
There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled.
– Baltasar Gracian
Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.
– Baltasar Gracian
To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.
– Baltasar Gracian
To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
– Baltasar Gracian
True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
– Baltasar Gracian
Watchfulness 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
When desire dies, fear is born.
– Baltasar Gracian
All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.
– Baltasar Gracian
Do pleasant things yourself, but unpleasant things through others.
– Baltasar Gracian
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward.
– Baltasar Gracian
Know how to ask. There is nothing more difficult for some people, nor for others, easier.
– Baltasar Gracian
Put yourself on view. This brings your talents to light.
– Baltasar Gracian
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.
– Baltasar Gracian
The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.
– Baltasar Gracian
Work is the price which is paid for reputation.
– Baltasar Gracian
Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
– Baltasar Gracian
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
The things we remember best are those better forgotten.
– Baltasar Gracian
Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do.
– Baltasar Gracian
Know or listen to those who know.
– Baltasar Gracian
Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.
– Baltasar Gracian
Always leave something to wish for otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.
– Baltasar Gracian
Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
– Baltasar Gracian