Quotes by Baltasar Gracian

"A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are."

"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."

"True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing."

"Know or listen to those who know."

"Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil."

"The things we remember best are those better forgotten."

"It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you."

"A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself."

"True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune to keep him is a blessing."

"Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way."

"Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment."

"A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends."

"The wise does at once what the fool does at last."

"True knowledge lies in knowing how to live."

"Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness."

"Always leave something to wish for otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness."

"Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong."

"A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself."

"Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do."

"Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one."

"At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all."

"Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best for that we must have recourse to art."

"A beautiful woman should break her mirror early."

"Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit."

"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."

"Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose."

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

"When desire dies, fear is born."

"He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave."

"Never have a companion that casts you in the shade."

"Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one."

"Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check."

"Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching."

"It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it."

"A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity."

"Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself."

"He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything."

"Respect yourself if you would have others respect you."

"The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause."

"To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else."

"Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone."

"We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend."

"Work is the price which is paid for reputation."