Baltasar Gracián Quotes

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

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.

From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Pen Names: Lorenzo Gracián

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

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The Truth, but not the whole Truth. Nothing demands more caution than the truth: ’tis the lancet of the heart. It requires as much to tell the truth as to conceal it. A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity. The deceit is regarded as treason and the deceiver as a traitor, which is worse. Yet not all truths can be spoken: some for our own sake, others for the sake of others. clxxxii

The Wise do at once what the Fool does at last. Both do the same thing; the only difference lies in the time they do it: the one at the right time, the other at the wrong. Who starts out with his mind topsyturvy will so continue till the end. He catches by the foot what he ought to knock on the head, he turns right into left, and in all his acts is but a child. There is only one way to get him in the right way, and that is to force him to do what he might have done of his own accord. The wise man, on the other hand, sees at once what must be done sooner

Don't engage with someone with nothing to lose. It's an unequal fight.

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

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

Though such authority and respect shouldn't be handed to all and sundry, have in caution's innermost room a confidant, a faithful mirror, whose correction you value when disillusionment is necessary.

Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth.

Fame is — has always been — the sister of giants.

Knowledge without courage is sterile. v

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

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

Baltasar Gracian (Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ (January 8, 1601 – December 6, 1658) was a Spanish Jesuit and writer. His proto-existentialist writings were lauded by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.)

You should aim to be independent of any one vote, of any one fashion, of any one century. cii

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...

Knowledge and courage contribute in turn to greatness. Since they are immortal, they immortalize. You are as much as you know, and a wise person can do anything. A person without knowledge is a world of darkness. Judgement and strength, eyes and hands; without courage, wisdom is sterile.

Words should be the pledges of work, and, like pawn-tickets, have their market price.