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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A brand new mediocrity is thought more of than accustomed excellence.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Admiration is the basis of ignorance.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
All men are idolators, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
All victories breed, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A man is judged by his friends, for the wise and the foolish have never agreed.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A person of your century: Great persons are of their time. Not all were born into a period worthy of them, and many so born failed to benefit by it. Some merited a better century, for all that is good does not always triumph. Fashions have their periods and even the greatest virtues, their styles. But the philosopher, being ageless, has one advantage: Should this not prove the right century, many to follow will.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A prudent man will think more important what fate has conceded to him, than what it has denied.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Attain and maintain a reputation, for it is the usufruct of fame. A stiff climb, for it is the issue of excellence, as rare as mediocrity is common.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
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.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
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.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
A wise prince must never take things easy in times of peace.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Beauty and folly are generally companions.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Begin with another's to end with your own.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Censure is like the lightning which strikes the highest mountains.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Chance has something to say, even how to write a good letter.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Cultivate those who can teach you.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itselft.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Do not show your wounded finger for everything will knock up against it.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Deceit comes in through the ears, but usually leaves through the eyes.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Display startling novelty-rise afresh like the sun every day. Change too the scene on which you shine, so that you rloss may be felt in the old scenes of your triumph, while the novelty of your powers wins applause in the new.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Do not be held a cheat, even though it is impossible to live today without being one. Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what looks like cunning.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Do not be inaccessible. None is so perfect that he does not need at times the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who will never listen to any one. Even the most surpassing intellect should find a place for friendly counsel. Sovereignty itself must learn to lean. There are some that are incorrigible simply because they are inaccessible: They fall to ruin because none dares to extricate them. The highest should have the door open for friendship; it may prove the gate of help. A friend must be free to advise, and even to upbraid, without feeling embarrassed.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Do not commit yourself to anybody or anything, for that is to be a slave, a slave to every man Above all, keep yourself free of commitments and obligations - they are the device of another to get you into his power
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Do not make mistakes about character. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Do not make Mistakes about Character. That is the worst and yet easiest error. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods. In dealing with men, more than with other things, it is necessary to look within. To know men is different from knowing things. It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Don't lie, but don't tell the whole truth.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Even monarchs have need of authors, and fear their pens more than ugly women the painter's pencil.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool. The faultier a person's judgement the firmer their convictions.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Everything foreign is respected, partly because it comes from afar, partly because it is ready made and perfect.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Evil report carries further than any applause.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Exaggeration is a branch of lying.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Excellence resides in quality, not in quantity. The best is always few and rare; much lowers value.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
Few are the friends of a mans self, most those of his circumstances.
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By AnonymBaltasar Gracian
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.
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