Quotes By Baltasar Gracian

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

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.

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.

Know or listen to those who know.

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.

Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.

One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

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.

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

There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.

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.

Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.

Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

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

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.

The things we remember best are those better forgotten.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.

Begin with another's to end with your own.

It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.

Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.

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.

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.

I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.