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
nature art needs
Nature often lets us down when we most need her; let us turn to art.
helping
The greatest service you can render someone else is helping him help himself.
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.
annoyed greed
When everyone covets something, they are easily annoyed by it.
real real-friends existence
Have Friends. 'Tis a second existence.
wisdom forever waiting
Wisdom is immortal. She can wait forever, but you cannot.
expectations people each-day
Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.
telling-the-truth caution
It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.
wisdom intelligence sage
The sage has one advantage: he is immortal. If this is not his century, many others will be.
mistake character quality
Do not make mistakes about character. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.
greatness contribution mutual
Wisdom and courage make mutual contributions to greatness.
desert friendless
There is no desert like being friendless.
busy certain precious-time
There are certain inessential activities-moths of precious time-and it is worse to busy yourself with the trivial than to do nothing.