Quotes by Baltasar Gracián

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.

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

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

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

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

Be first the master of yourself

Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen. If you can’t be good, be careful.

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

A synonym is a word you use when you cant spell the other one.

Knowledge without courage is sterile.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

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.

Though such authority and respect shouldnt be handed to all and sundry, have in cautions innermost room a confidant, a faithful mirror, whose correction you value when disillusionment is necessary.

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

Deal with people from whom you can learn

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

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.

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.

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

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