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
wise ifs
If you are wise, live as you can; if you cannot, live as you would.
courtesy manners great-person
Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages.
political should explanation
You should avoid making yourself too clear even in your explanations.
time clubs crutches
The crutch of Time accomplishes more than the club of Hercules.
littles cost helping
To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
success goal people
Take care to make things turn out well. Some people scruple more over pointing things in the right direction than over successfully reaching their goals. The disgrace of failure outweighs the diligence they showed. A winner is never asked for explanations.
teamwork teach
Cultivate those who can teach you.
evil applause carrie
Evil report carries further than any applause.
thinking giving yes-and-no
Yes and no are soon said, but give much to think over.
beauty art excellence
There is no beauty unaided, no excellence that does not sink to the barbarous, unless saved by art.
thinking done undone
For a thing to remain undone nothing more is needed than to think of it done.
littles too-much would-be
It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.
self-improvement obscure strive
I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.
art philosophy past
It takes more to make one sage today than it did to make the seven of Greece. And you need more resources to deal with a single person these days than with an entire nation in times past.