Baltasar Gracian

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live. ”

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. ”

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

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

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

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it. ”

Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. ”

There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. ”

One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity. ”

Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders. ”