Baltasar Gracián

“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.”

“אדם בלא ידע דומה לעולם בלא אור. השכל והרצון הם העיניים והידיים, אך בלא גבורה, אין חוכמה.”

“אדם חייב להיות כזה שאין לו מה להתבייש בפני עצמו.”

“הזדרז לפעול וליהנות מזמנך, כי העונות והזמן אינם מחכים לאדם.”

“כשהיא נותנת לנו את התמורה, ההנאה לעולם אינה מוסרת לנו את עצמה בשלמותה.”

“כדי לבוא על סיפוקנו דרושה תמיד הבנה שנשאר לנו משהו לדעת על מנת להזין את סקרנותנו.”

“אדם חכם עושה מיד מה שהטיפש עושה בסופו של דבר.”

“החוק היחיד של ההנאה הוא התיאבון כשאנו רעבים.”

“האמצעי לחיות זמן רב הוא לחיות היטב.”

“Be first the master of yourself”

“Harness the imagination: Sometimes curbing her, sometimes giving her rein, for she is the whole of happiness. She sets to rights even the understanding. She sinks to tyranny, not satisfied with mere faith, but demanding works. Thus she becomes the mistress of life itself. She does so with pleasure or with pain, according to the nonsense presented. She makes people contented or discontented with themselves. By dangling before some nothing but the specter of their eternal suffering, she becomes the scourge of these fools. To others she shows nothing but fortune and romance, while merrily laughing. Of all this she is capable if not held in check by the wisest of wills.”

“Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.”

“Though such authority and respect shouldn't be handed to all and sundry, have in caution's innermost room a confidant, a faithful mirror, whose correction you value when disillusionment is necessary.”

“Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen. If you can’t be good, be careful.”

“For the advice in a joke is sometimes more useful than the most serious teaching.”

“Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itself.”

“Cautious silence is the refuge of good sense”

“One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.”

“Deal with people from whom you can learn”

“Knowledge without courage is sterile.”