Quotes by Baltasar Gracian

"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."

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

"True knowledge lies in knowing how to live."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Know or listen to those who know."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

"When desire dies, fear is born."

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

"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."

"Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit."

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

"A beautiful woman should break her mirror early."

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

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

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