Quotes By Baltasar Gracian

It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.

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.

To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.

There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled.

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.

Know or listen to those who know.

At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

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.

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

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.