Baltasar Gracián Quotes

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

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...

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward

Don't be brittle as glass in dealing with people. And especially with friends. Some people crack easily, revealing their fragility. They fill up with offence and fill others with annoyance. They reveal a nature so petty and sensitive that it tolerates nothing, in jest or in earnest. The slightest thing offends them, so insults are never necessary. Those who have dealings with them have to tread carefully, always attending to their sensibilities and adjusting to their temperaments, since the slightest snub annoys them. They are completely self-centred...

Quit while you’re ahead.
All the best gamblers do.

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.

La quexa siempre trae descrédito. Más sirve de exemplar de atrevimiento a la passión que de consuelo a la compassión. Abre el passo a quien la oye para lo mismo, y es la noticia del agravio del primero disculpa del segundo. Dan pie algunos con sus quexas de las ofensiones passadas a las venideras.

The person who does not know how to put up with others should retire into himself, if indeed he can suffer even himself.

Más vale ser engañado en el precio que en la mercadería.

Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

Things are done quickly enough if done well. If just quickly done they can be quickly undone.

There's no greater absurdity than taking everything seriously.

The most and best of us depend on others; we have to live either among friends or among enemies.

Recognize things when they are at their best, in their season, and know how to enjoy them then. The works of nature all amount to a peak of perfection; up to it they wax, beyond it they wane. Only in matters of art have a few gone to the point where they might not be improved. It is the mark of cultivated taste to enjoy everything at its best. But all may not do this, and not all who may, know how. Even the fruits of the spirit have their moment of ripeness, and it is well to recognize this, in order to value it properly and attend to it.