THE ART OF WORLDLY WISDOM BY BALTASAR GRACIÁN - BEST QUOTES 1
It is the fool's misfortune to fail in obtaining the position, the employment, the neighbourhood and the circle of friends that suit him.
Mix a little mystery with everything and when you explain be not too explicit, cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom.
A wise man would rather see men needing him than thanking him. Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one, he that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well. When dependence disappears good behavior goes with it as well as respect. So, keep always hope alive without entirely satisfying it, make yourself needed even by a patron on the throne.
Superiority over your superior is foolish or fatal. Superiors will allow a man to help them but not to surpass them, and will have any advice tendered them appear like the recollection of something they have forgotten rather as a guide to something they cannot find.
Nature scarcely gives us the very best, for this we must have recourse to art. Everyone has something unpolished without artificial training and every kind of excellence needs some polish.
A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice, a good one supplies everything, sweetens truth and helps out of a difficulty in a remarkable way.
It is easy to kill a bird that flies sraight, not so one that twists: vary your mode of action to circumvent your enemy
Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it
What costs little is little worth
He cannot make himself understood who does not himself easily understand
The very truths which concern us the most can only be half spoken, but with attention we can grasp the whole meaning. When you hear anything favourable keep a tight rein on your credulity, if unfavourable give it the spur.
All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure, skill consists in knowing these idols and bringing them into play. First guess a man's ruling passion, appeal to it by a word, set it in motion by temptation, and you will infallibly give checkmate to his freedom of will.
Excellence resides in quality not in quantity. The best is always few and rare. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity, so prize intensity more than extent.