Baltasar Gracian
Baltasar Gracian
Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ, formerly Anglicized as Baltazar Gracian, was a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud. His writings were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth8 January 1601
CountrySpain
friendship blessing soul
Friendship multiplies blessings and...soothes the soul.
wise mistake men
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.
inspirational business reality
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.
imagination harness whole
Harness the imagination, for she is the whole of happiness.
wise thanking-him advice
The wise persono would rather see others needing him than thanking him.
ignorance admiration bases
Admiration is the basis of ignorance.
friendship true-friend real
To find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.
silence sanctuary prudence
Silence is the sanctuary of prudence.
clever two people
Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.
giving enemy gains
Possession hinders enjoyment. It merely gives you the right to keep things for or from others, and thus you gain more enemies than friends.
dry gilded
A gilded No is more satisfactory than a dry Yes.
wise wisdom impatient
The wise are always impatient, for he that increases knowledge increases impatience of folly.
confidence fall achievement
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.
unhappy desire states
If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear, an unhappy state of happiness.