Baltasar Gracián (1601–58,) fully Baltasar Jerónimo Gracián y Morales, was a Spanish baroque moralist, Jesuit scholar, and philosophical novelist. Considered one of the greatest prose masters of Spain’s Golden Age, he was the foremost Spanish exponent of conceptism (“conceptismo,”) a literary style that employs terse and subtle displays of exaggerated wit.
Born in Belmonte de Calatayud, Spain, Gracián studied at Calatayud and Zaragoza. He entered the Jesuit order at the age of 18 and became rector of the Jesuit College at Tarragona.
Gracián’s initial works—El héroe (1637; ‘The Hero,’) El discreto (1646; ‘The Compleat Gentleman,’) and El oráculo manual y arte de prudencia (1647; ‘The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle’)—were predominantly efforts to instruct people in the ethics of worldly life. His literary style of conceptism was first presented in Agudeza y arte de ingenio (1642, ‘Subtlety and the Art of Genius.’)
Gracián published pseudonymously El criticón (1651, 1653, 1657; The Critick, 1781,) a three-part philosophical novel that portrays a pessimistic allegorical vision of human life. Arthur Schopenhauer considered it one of the best books ever written.
Gracián’s works influenced Francois de La Rochefoucauld, and later Voltaire, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jorge Luis Borges. Arthur Schopenhauer considered El criterión one of the best books ever written.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Baltasar Gracian
When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Advice
Oh life, you should never had begun, but since you did, you should never end.
—Baltasar Gracian
The greatest wisdom often consists in ignorance.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Ignorance
The sage has one advantage: He is immortal. If this is not his century, many others will be.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Wisdom
Fortune pays sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Fortune
True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Knowledge
Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Danger
Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Patience
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Insanity
Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Luck
A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Men
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Sleep
Do something well, and that is quickly enough.
—Baltasar Gracian
Evil report carries further than any applause
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: News, Applause
It is more offensive to outshine in dignity than in personal attractions.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Dignity
Respect yourself if you would have others respect you. – Gracian, Baltasar
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Self Respect, Self-Esteem
It is impossible to live without brains, either one’s own or borrowed.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Mind
It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.
—Baltasar Gracian
Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another’s fame.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Role models, Ambition
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.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Age, Aging
He who finds Fortune on his side should go briskly ahead, for she is wont to favor the bold.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Boldness, Courage
To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Service
The passions are the humors of the mind, and the least excess sickens our judgment. If the disease spreads to the mouth, your reputation will be in danger.
—Baltasar Gracian
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Inaction, Procrastination, Action, Getting Going, Wisdom
Sometimes it proves the highest understanding not to understand.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Ignorance
It is as hard to tell the truth as to hide it.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Truth
The heaven of the envied is hell for the envious.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Envy, Jealousy
A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Beauty
Begin with another’s to end with your own.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Innovation, Originality
To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.
—Baltasar Gracian
Topics: Imitation
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