Baltasar Gracián Quotes

Aragonese Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher in Castilian language (1601-1658)

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Baltasar Gracián y Morales (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658), most widely known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit author regarded as one of the most accomplished prose stylists of the Baroque era.

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Pen Names: Lorenzo Gracián

Alternative Names: Balthasar Gracian • Baltasar Gracian • Baltasar Gracián y Morales

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To keep is more important than to make friends. Select those that will wear well; if they are new at first, it is some consolation they will become old…

There is no desert like living without friends. Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. It is the sole remedy against misfortune, the very ventilation of the soul.

Imagination travels faster than sight. Deceit comes in through the ears, but usually leaves through the eyes.

You will never belong entirely to someone else nor they to you. Neither ties of blood, nor friendship, nor the most pressing obligation are sufficient for this, for there's a big difference between opening your heart and surrendering your will. Even the greatest intimacy has its limits, and the laws of courtesy are not offended by this. A friend always keeps some secret to himself and a son conceals something from his father...

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

Harness the imagination: Sometimes curbing her, sometimes giving her rein, for she is the whole of happiness. She sets to rights even the understanding. She sinks to tyranny, not satisfied with mere faith, but demanding works. Thus she becomes the mistress of life itself. She does so with pleasure or with pain, according to the nonsense presented. She makes people contented or discontented with themselves. By dangling before some nothing but the specter of their eternal suffering, she becomes the scourge of these fools. To others she shows nothing but fortune and romance, while merrily laughing. Of all this she is capable if not held in check by the wisest of wills.

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.

Harto presto, si bien.

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

To hear a prince's secrets is not a privilege but a burden. Many smash the mirror that reminds them of their ugliness. They cannot stand to see those who saw them.

Freedom is more precious than any gifts for which you may be tempted to give it up.

There is no desert like living without friends. Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. ’Tis the sole remedy against misfortune, the very ventilation of the soul. clix

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... To find one real friend in a lifetime is a good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

You should therefore never reveal what causes you pain or pleasure, so that the former may quickly end and the latter long continue.

Memory is not only unruly, leaving us in the lurch when most needed, but stupid as well, putting its nose into places where it is not wanted.