Baltasar Gracián quotes - page 4

Have friends. 'Tis a second existence. (Baltasar Gracián)
Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do.
Baltasar Gracián
There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
Baltasar Gracián
Begin with another's to end with your own.
Baltasar Gracián
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.
Baltasar Gracián
Many owe their greatness to their enemies. Flattery is fiercer than hatred, for hatred corrects the faults flattery had disguised.
Baltasar Gracián
Because the ignorant do not know themselves, they never know for what they are lacking. Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.
Baltasar Gracián
Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth.
Baltasar Gracián
Some people belong entirely to others ... They have not a day, not an hour to call their own, so completely do they give themselves to others. This is true even in matters of understanding. Some people know everything for others and nothing for themselves.
Baltasar Gracián
Freedom is more precious than the gift that makes us lose it.
Baltasar Gracián
Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today. (Baltasar Gracián)
It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.
Baltasar Gracián
A just man stand's on the side of the right with such conviction, thát neither the passion of a mob, nor the violence of a despot can make him overstep the bounds of reason.
Baltasar Gracián
Life is a warfare against the malice of others.
Baltasar Gracián
Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.
Baltasar Gracián
Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.
Baltasar Gracián
Knowledge and courage take turns at greatness.
Baltasar Gracián
It is a great deed to leave nothing for tomorrow.
Baltasar Gracián
A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.
Baltasar Gracián
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 Gracián
God Himself chasteneth not with a rod but with time. (Baltasar Gracián)
Mix a little mystery with everything, for mystery arouses veneration.
Baltasar Gracián
Do pleasant things yourself, but unpleasant things through others.
Baltasar Gracián
Wise men appreciate all men, for they see the good in each and know how hard it is to make anything good.
Baltasar Gracián
Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it.
Baltasar Gracián