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
giving people want
You have to appear wiser and more prudent than is required by the people you are dealing with if you want to give a high opinion of yourself.
giving risk delight
Many of the things that bring delight should not be owned. They are more enjoyed if another's, than if yours; the first day they give pleasure to the owner, but in all the rest to the others: what belongs to another rejoices doubly, because it is without the risk of going stale and with the satisfaction of freshness. . . the possession of things not only diminishes their enjoyment, but augments their annoyance, whether shared or not shared.
thinking giving yes-and-no
Yes and no are soon said, but give much to think over.
art giving recourse
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
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.
fall giving woe
Share weight and woe, for misfortune falls with double force on him that stands alone.
man spanish-philosopher
At 20 a man is a peacock, at 30 a lion, at 40 a camel, at 50 a serpent, at 60 a dog, at 70 an ape, and at 80 nothing.
argument opponent side taken wrong
Don't take the wrong side in an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side
conquered courage difficulty joking later yields
Like love, courage is no joking matter. If it yields once, it will have to yield again, and again. The same difficulty will have to be conquered later on, and it would have been better to get it over with.
duration favors fortune intensity pays
Fortune pays sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration
integrity done shows
They make the greatest show of what they have done, who have done least.
along arm time truth
Truth always lags last, limping along on the arm of Time
spanish-philosopher
Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
spanish-philosopher time withdraw
There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.