Baltasar Gracián quotes - page 3

Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets. (Baltasar Gracián)
Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
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. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
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. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
The things we remember best are those better forgotten. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
I strive to be brief, and I become obscure. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself. (Baltasar Gracián)
To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
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. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Evil report carries further than any applause. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
To hear a prince's secrets is not a privilege but a burden. Many smash the mirror that reminds them of their ugliness. They cannot stand to see those who saw them. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Trust the friends of today as though they will be the enemies of tomorrow. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Virtue alone is for real; all else is sham. Talent and greatness depend on virtue, not on fortune. Only virtue is sufficient unto herself. She makes us love the living and remember the dead. (Baltasar Gracián)
Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
Not believing others implies that you yourself are deceitful. The liar suffers twice: he neither believes nor is believed. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
To oblige persons often costs little and helps much. View quote
Baltasar Gracián
He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave. View quote
Baltasar Gracián