Baltasar Gracian Quotes

‘No’ and ‘Yes’ are words quickly said, but they need a great amount of thought before you utter them.

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

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

Do not be held a cheat, even though it is impossible to live today without being one. Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what looks like cunning.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

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.

The best skill at cards is knowing when to discard.

Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.

Do not make Mistakes about Character. That is the worst and yet easiest error. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods. In dealing with men, more than with other things, it is necessary to look within. To know men is different from knowing things. It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

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

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