Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
More quotes from Baltasar Gracian
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.
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Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.
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Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
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Quit while you’re ahead. All the best gamblers do.
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Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.
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Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.
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We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend.
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When desire dies, fear is born.
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It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.
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Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
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Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.
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Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.
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To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
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To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.
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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.
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Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.
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A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
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The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
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A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
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The things we remember best are those better forgotten.
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Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.
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A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.
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Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
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Begin with another’s to end with your own.
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Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
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Don’t take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
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Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
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Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.
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Know or listen to those who know.
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There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled.
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Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
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One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
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It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.
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Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.
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Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
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There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
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I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.
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He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other’s slave.
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Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
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Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.
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He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.
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He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.
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True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
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Evil report carries further than any applause.
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It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.
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Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.
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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.
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Work is the price which is paid for reputation.
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Have friends. ‘Tis a second existence.
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Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
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Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.
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Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.
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Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn’t being applauded when you arrive – for that is common – but being missed when you leave.
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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.
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To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else.
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Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.
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Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
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A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
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A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself.
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The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.
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Don’t show off every day, or you’ll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.
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Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.
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It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
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