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
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.
reality expectations people
Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would.
thinking ideas people
Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.
success goal people
Take care to make things turn out well. Some people scruple more over pointing things in the right direction than over successfully reaching their goals. The disgrace of failure outweighs the diligence they showed. A winner is never asked for explanations.
wisdom people easier
Know how to ask. There is nothing more difficult for some people, nor for others, easier.
clever two people
Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.
smart people advice
Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.
people busy
Many people who pretend to be very busy have the least to do.
what-matters people common
Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.
loss missing risk
Never risk your reputation on a single shot, for if you miss the loss is irreparable.
time truth lag
Truth always lags behind, limping along on the arm of Time.
writing letters chance
Chance has something to say in everything, even how to write a good letter
dignity offensive attraction
It is more offensive to outshine in dignity than in personal attractions.
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.