Baltasar Gracian
Baltasar Gracian
Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ, formerly Anglicized as Baltazar Gracian, was a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud. His writings were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth8 January 1601
CountrySpain
Baltasar Gracian quotes about
gratitude grateful heaven
The heaven of the envied is hell for the envious. [...because they focus on what they don't have rather than being grateful for what they have, which is always better than some others.]
office political dignity
Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.
fashion achievement promise
Know how to keep anticipation alive: always strive to feed it, by letting the much promise more, and the one achievement be the announcement only of a greater. Put not all your reserves into the first throw; the great trick is to dole out strength, and to dole out mind, in such a fashion as to bring forward increasingly the fulfillment of what was expected of you.
fashion style doe
A person of your century: Great persons are of their time. Not all were born into a period worthy of them, and many so born failed to benefit by it. Some merited a better century, for all that is good does not always triumph. Fashions have their periods and even the greatest virtues, their styles. But the philosopher, being ageless, has one advantage: Should this not prove the right century, many to follow will.
nice honor enemy
Treat your enemies with courtesy, and you'll see how valuable it really is. It costs little but pays a nice dividend: those who honor are honored. Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.
revenge taken dust
Know how to play the card of contempt. It is the most politic kind of revenge. For there are many of whom we should have known nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness.
eye deception ears
Deceit comes in through the ears, but usually leaves through the eyes.
wise fashion knowledge
Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
superiority
Superiority is always detested.
success satisfaction
Success rarely brings satisfaction.
mountain lightning strikes
Censure is like the lightning which strikes the highest mountains.
cities beast wild-beasts
The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.
thinking fool
The greatest fool is he who thinks he is not one and all others are.
honor losing advantage
Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.