Best 230 quotes of Baltasar Gracian on MyQuotes

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.

A brand new mediocrity is thought more of than accustomed excellence.

Admiration is the basis of ignorance.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.

All men are idolators, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.

All victories breed, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal.

Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

A man is judged by his friends, for the wise and the foolish have never agreed.

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.

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.

A prudent man will think more important what fate has conceded to him, than what it has denied.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.

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.

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.

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.

A wise prince must never take things easy in times of peace.

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.

Beauty and folly are generally companions.

Begin with another's to end with your own.

Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else.

Censure is like the lightning which strikes the highest mountains.

Chance has something to say, even how to write a good letter.

Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages.

Cultivate those who can teach you.

Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itselft.

Do not show your wounded finger for everything will knock up against it.

Deceit comes in through the ears, but usually leaves through the eyes.

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.

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.

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.

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

Do not make mistakes about character. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.

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.

Don't lie, but don't tell the whole truth.

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.

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.

Even monarchs have need of authors, and fear their pens more than ugly women the painter's pencil.

Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool. The faultier a person's judgement the firmer their convictions.

Everything foreign is respected, partly because it comes from afar, partly because it is ready made and perfect.

Evil report carries further than any applause.

Exaggeration is a branch of lying.

Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste.

Excellence resides in quality, not in quantity. The best is always few and rare; much lowers value.

Few are the friends of a mans self, most those of his circumstances.

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.