Quotes By Baltasar Gracian

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

Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.

Work is the price which is paid for reputation.

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.

Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.

Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.

It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.