Quotes from Baltasar Gracian

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.

To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.

Wise men appreciate all men, for they see the good in each and know how hard it is to make anything good.

A man is judged by his friends, for the wise and the foolish have never agreed.

It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.

Man is born a barbarian, and only raises himself above the beast by culture.

Peacemakers not only live, they rule life.

Character and intelligence are the poles you talent spins on, displaying your gifts.

It takes more to make one sage today than it did to make the seven of Greece. And you need more resources to deal with a single person these days than with an entire nation in times past.

Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult and difficult as if they were easy in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep in the other that it may not be dismayed.

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

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

Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.

Nothing is good for him for whom nothing is bad.

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

Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages.

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

Surfeits of happiness are fatal.

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

Harness the imagination, for she is the whole of happiness.

To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which you have even if you have nothing else.

Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else.

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

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.