Baltasar Gracian quotes

Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
- Baltasar Gracian

The path to greatness is along with others.
- Baltasar Gracian

Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.
- Baltasar Gracian

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

The greatest service you can render someone else is helping him help himself.
- Baltasar Gracian

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
- Baltasar Gracian

Self knowledge is the beginning of self improvement.
- Baltasar Gracian

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

One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
- Baltasar Gracian

Life is a warfare against the malice of others.
- Baltasar Gracian

Always act as if you were seen.
- Baltasar Gracian

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
- Baltasar Gracian

Hear, see, and be silent.
- Baltasar 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.
- Baltasar Gracian

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

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.
- Baltasar Gracian

The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.
- Baltasar Gracian

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
- Baltasar 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.
- Baltasar Gracian

Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one.
- Baltasar Gracian

Keep the extent of your abilities unknown.The wise man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be honored at all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely. For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great.
- Baltasar Gracian

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
- Baltasar Gracian

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
- Baltasar Gracian

To find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.
- Baltasar 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.
- Baltasar Gracian

Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.
- Baltasar Gracian

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.
- Baltasar Gracian