Baltasar Gracián Quotes

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.

~ Baltasar Gracián

The truths that matter most to us come always half spoken.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itself.

~ Baltasar Gracián

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

~ Baltasar Gracián

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Be first the master of yourself

~ Baltasar Gracián

One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.

~ Baltasar Gracián

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Knowledge without courage is sterile.

~ Baltasar Gracián

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 a good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

~ Baltasar Gracián

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Deal with people from whom you can learn

~ Baltasar Gracián

We have eyelids but not earlids, for the ears are the portals of learning, and Nature wanted to keep them wide open.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Harness the imagination: Sometimes curbing her, sometimes giving her rein, for she is the whole of happiness. She sets to rights even the understanding. She sinks to tyranny, not satisfied with mere faith, but demanding works. Thus she becomes the mistress of life itself. She does so with pleasure or with pain, according to the nonsense presented. She makes people contented or discontented with themselves. By dangling before some nothing but the specter of their eternal suffering, she becomes the scourge of these fools. To others she shows nothing but fortune and romance, while merrily laughing. Of all this she is capable if not held in check by the wisest of wills.

~ Baltasar Gracián

The most and best of us depend on others, we have to live either among friends or among enemies.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Memory is not only unruly, leaving us in the lurch when most needed, but stupid as well, putting its nose into places where it is not wanted.

~ Baltasar Gracián

He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.

~ Baltasar Gracián

For the advice in a joke is sometimes more useful than the most serious teaching.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Cautious silence is the refuge of good sense

~ Baltasar Gracián

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

~ Baltasar Gracián

It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Respect yourself is you would have others respect you.

~ Baltasar Gracián

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 Gracián

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

~ Baltasar Gracián

The best skill at cards is knowing when to discard.

~ Baltasar Gracián

There are rules to luck, not everything is chance for the wise; luck can be helped by skill.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Say farewell to luck when winning. It is the way of the gamblers of reputation. Quite as important as a gallant advance is a well-planned retreat. Lock up your winnings when they are enough, or when great. Continuous luck is always suspect; more secure is that which changes. Though half bitter and half sweet, it is more satisfying to the taste. The more luck pyramids, the greater the danger of slip and collapse. For luck always compensates her intensity by her brevity. Fortune wearies of carrying anyone long upon her shoulders.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Rivalry discovers that courtesy overlooks.

~ Baltasar Gracián

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Good things when short are twice as good.

~ 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

Nothing arouses ambition so much as the trumpet clang of another's fame.

~ Baltasar Gracián

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

~ Baltasar Gracián

Words are feminine deeds are masculine.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Begin with another's to end with your own.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

~ Baltasar Gracián

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

~ Baltasar Gracián

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.

~ Baltasar Gracián

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

~ Baltasar Gracián