Quotes by Baltasar Gracian

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
– Baltasar Gracian

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.
– Baltasar Gracian

Do not enter where too much is anticipated. It is the misfortune of the over-celebrated that they cannot measure up to excessive expectations. The actual can never attain the imagined: for to think perfection is easy, but to embody it is most difficult. The imagination weds the wish, and together they always conjure up more than reality can furnish. For however great may be a person’s virtues, the will never measure up to what was imagined. When people see themselves cheated in their extravagant anticipations, they turn more quickly to disparagement than to praise. Hope is a great falsifier of the truth; the the intelligence put her right by seeing to it that the fruit is superior to its appetite. You will make a better exit when the actual transcends the imagined, and is more than was expected.
– Baltasar Gracian

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
– Baltasar Gracian

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
– Baltasar Gracian

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
– Baltasar Gracian

Politeness is the chief sign of culture.
– Baltasar Gracian

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
– Baltasar Gracian

Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.
– Baltasar Gracian

Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.
– Baltasar Gracian

Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.
– Baltasar Gracián

Don’t take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
– Baltasar Gracian

Some people belong entirely to others … They have not a day, not an hour to call their own, so completely do they give themselves to others. This is true even in matters of understanding. Some people know everything for others and nothing for themselves.
– Baltasar Gracian

Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
– Baltasar Gracian

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
– Baltasar Gracian

Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one.
– Baltasar Gracian

A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
– Baltasar Gracian

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
– Baltasar Gracian

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 a good fortune;to keep him is a blessing.
— Baltasar Gracián

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
– Baltasar Gracian

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.
– Baltasar Gracián

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.
– Baltasar Gracian

It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.
— Baltasar Gracian

When desire dies, fear is born.
– Baltasar Gracian

Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.
– Baltasar Gracian

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
– Baltasar Gracian

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
– Baltasar Gracian

Complaints will always discredit you.
– Baltasar Gracian

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.
– Baltasar Gracian

There is no wilderness like a life without friends.
— Baltasar Gracián