Baltasar Gracián
Spanish Jesuit priest and philosopher, 1601-1658
22 quotes.
Quotes by Baltasar Gracián
- A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
- 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.
- Celerity is the mother of good fortune. He has done much who leaves nothing over till to-morrow.
- Character and Intellect: the two poles of our capacity; one without the other is but halfway to happiness. Intellect sufficeth not, character is also needed.
- In Prosperity prepare for Adversity. It is both wiser and easier to collect winter stores in summer. In prosperity favours are cheap and friends are many.
- It needs some skill to find out difficulties, but more to find a way out of them.
- Know how to Choose well. Most of life depends thereon.
- Know your strongest Point—your pre-eminent gift; cultivate that and you will assist the rest. Every one would have excelled in something if he had known his strong point. Notice in what quality you surpass, and take charge of that.
- Never act in a Passion. If you do, all is lost. You cannot act for yourself if you are not yourself, and passion always drives out reason.
- All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.
- Pay respect that you may be respected, and know that to be esteemed you must show esteem.
- Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.
- Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.
- The greatest foresight consists in determining beforehand the time of trouble. For the provident there are no mischances and for the careful no narrow escapes.
- The true road to respect is through merit, and if industry accompany merit the path becomes shorter.
- The Wise do at once what the Fool does at last. Both do the same thing; the only difference lies in the time they do it: the one at the right time, the other at the wrong.
- There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. Talk as if you were making your will: the fewer words the less litigation.
- There is no attaining eminence without both, and where they unite there is the greatest eminence. Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it. Work is the price which is paid for reputation. What costs little is little worth.
- There is no magic like a good turn, and the way to gain friendly feelings is to do friendly acts.
- Think more highly of what fate has given you than of what it has denied.
- To last an eternity requires an eternity of preparation. Only excellence counts; only achievement endures.
- You cannot master yourself unless you know yourself. There are mirrors for the face but none for the mind.