The Wisdom of Gracian VII Flashcards
Know how to transplant yourself
There are people only valued when they move to other countries, especially in top positions.
Anything foreign is valued, either because it comes from a distance or because it’s only encountered perfect and complete.
A statue on an altar will never be venerated by someone who knew it as a tree trunk in a garden.
Undertake what’s easy as if it were hard, and what’s hard as if it were easy.
In the first case, so that confidence doesn’t make you careless; in the second, so that lack of confidence doesn’t make you discouraged.
It takes nothing more for something not to be done than thinking that it is.
Conversely, diligence removes impossibilities.
Don’t think over great undertakings, just seize them when they arise, so that consideration of their difficulty doesn’t hold you back.
In heaven, everything is good; in hell, everything is bad.
In the world, since it lies between the two, you find both.
We are placed between two extremes, and so participate in both.
Good and bad luck alternate, not all is happy, nor all hostile.
Our life is arranged like a play, everything will be sorted out at the end. Take care, then, to end it well.
Know how to contradict.
This is provocations great strategy, getting others to open up, without opening up yourself.
It’s a unique form of coercion, which makes hidden feelings fly out.
Scorn shrewdly expressed towards someone’s veiled language, is the way to hunt the deepest secrets, drawing these out until they trip off the the tongue and are caught in the nets of artful deceit.
A feigned doubt is curiosity’s subtlest picklock, enabling it to learn whatever it wants.
Even where learning is concerned, contradiction is the pupil’s strategy to make the teacher put all their effort into explaining and justifying the truth: a mild challenge leads to consummate instruction.
Neither love nor hate forever.
Trust in today’s friends as if tomorrow’s worst enemies. Since this actually happens, anticipate it happening.
You should never give arms to friendship’s turncoats, since they will wage devastating war with them.
With enemies in contrast,always leave the door open for reconciliation, gallantry’s door being the most effective.
Know your lucky star.
There’s nobody so hopeless that they don’t have one, and if you are unfortunate, it’s because you don’t know which it is.
Luck shuffles the cards as and when it wants.
Let everyone know their lucky stars as well as their abilities, for this is a matter of winning or losing.
Know how to follow it and help it: never swap it or you will wander off course.
A truly peaceable person, is a person with a long life.
To live, let live.
The peaceable not only live, but reign.
To live a lot, and to enjoy life, is to live twice: this is the fruit of peace.
There’s no greater absurdity than taking everything seriously.
A person has everything who cares nothing about what matters little.
Similarly, it’s stupid to take things to heart that don’t concern you, and not to take to heart those that are important.
Don’t be known for artifice, although you can’t live without it now.
Be prudent rather than astute.
Everyone likes plain dealing, but not everyone practices it themselves.
Be revered as wise rather than feared as calculating.
Sincere people are loved, but deceived.
The greatest artifice may be to conceal such artifice, for it’s always viewed as deceit.
Know how to divide up your life wisely, not as things arise, but with foresight and discrimination.
Life is arduous without any breaks, like a journey without any inns.
Spend the first part of a fine life in communication with the dead, books reliably turn us into people.
Spend the second part with the living: see and examine all that’s good in the world.
Let the third stage be spent entirely with yourself: the ultimate happiness, to philosophise.
Don’t entrust your reputation to another without having their honour as security.
Keeping silent should be to each other’s advantage; speaking out to each other’s detriment.
You should never trust anyone; and if on occasion you have to, do so with such skill that you encourage caution even more than prudence.
The risk should be equal and the matter mutual, so that someone who says they’re your partner doesn’t turn witness against you.
Know how to ask.
There are some who don’t know how to refuse; with such people no picklock is necessary.
There are others whose first word on every occasion is no; with these people you need real skill.
Catch people when they are in good spirits, when their bodies and minds are satisfied.
Don’t go near when you see someone else has been refused, for any fear of saying ‘no’ will have vanished.
Placing someone under an obligation beforehand is a good bill of exchange, unless you’re dealing with someone base.
Grant something as a favour, before it has to given as a reward.
This is a skill of great politicians.
Granting favours before they are merited is proof of an honourable person.
A favour in advance is doubly excellent: the speed of the giver places the recipient under a greater obligation.
A gift given afterwards is due payment; the same beforehand becomes an obligation.
With base individuals, a reward paid early is more of a bit (horse) than a spur.
