Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. - Baltasar Gracián

Know your strongest Point — your pre-eminent gift; cultivate that and you will assist the rest. Every one would have excelled in something if he had known his strong point. Notice in what quality you surpass, and take charge of that. In some judgment excels, in others valour. Most do violence to their natural aptitude, and thus attain superiority in nothing.

clxxxiii Do not hold your Views too firmly. Every fool is fully convinced, and every one fully persuaded is a fool: the more erroneous his judgment the more firmly he holds it.

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