Quotes By Baltasar Gracian

One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

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

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.

Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.

Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

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

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

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.

The things we remember best are those better forgotten.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.

Begin with another's to end with your own.

It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.

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 good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

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.

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.

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

I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.

Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.

It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

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.