At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent — Baltasar Gracián
Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. — Baltasar Gracián
Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance. — Baltasar Gracián
Don’t take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side. — Baltasar Gracián
Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one — Baltasar Gracián
It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally — Baltasar Gracián
He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything. — Baltasar Gracián
Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. — Baltasar Gracián
Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will — Baltasar Gracián
It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you. — Baltasar Gracián
One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity. — Baltasar Gracián
Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it. — Baltasar Gracián
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art. — Baltasar Gracián