Top 200 Baltasar Gracián Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.”

— Baltasar Gracián

Featured in: Reflection Quotes, School Quotes

2. “Hear, see, and be silent.”

— Baltasar Gracián

Featured in: Silence Quotes

3. “A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”

— Baltasar Gracián

4. “Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.”

— Baltasar Gracián

5. “The path to greatness is along with others.”

— Baltasar Gracián

6. “Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.”

— Baltasar Gracián

7. “The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.”

— Baltasar Gracián

8. “Be first the master of yourself.”

— Baltasar Gracián

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

9. “He who puts off nothing till tomorrow has done a great deal.”

— Baltasar Gracián

Featured in: Procrastination Quotes

10. “Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.”

— Baltasar Gracián

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

11. “Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.”

— Baltasar Gracián

12. “The wise does at once what the fool does at last.”

— Baltasar Gracián

13. “Silence is the sanctuary of prudence.”

— Baltasar Gracián

14. “Exaggeration is a branch of lying.”

— Baltasar Gracián

15. “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.”

— Baltasar Gracián

16. “Quit while you’re ahead. All the best gamblers do.”

— Baltasar Gracián

17. “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 Gracián

18. “The sage has one advantage: he is immortal. If this is not his century, many others will be.”

— Baltasar Gracián

Featured in: Intelligence Quotes

19. “Do not commit yourself to anybody or anything, for that is to be a slave, a slave to every man Above all, keep yourself free of commitments and obligations – they are the device of another to get you into his power.”

— Baltasar Gracián

20. “Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.”

— Baltasar Gracián

21. “Don’t lie, but don’t tell the whole truth.”

— Baltasar Gracián

22. “True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.”

— Baltasar Gracián

23. “Put yourself on view. This brings your talents to light.”

— Baltasar Gracián

24. “Many people who pretend to be very busy have the least to do.”

— Baltasar Gracián

25. “To find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.”

— Baltasar Gracián

26. “Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.”

— Baltasar Gracián

27. “Rate the intensive above the extensive. The perfect does not lie in quantity, but in quality.”

— Baltasar Gracián

28. “Work is the price which is paid for reputation.”

— Baltasar Gracián

29. “Oh life, you should never had begun, but since you did, you should never end.”

— Baltasar Gracián

30. “Success rarely brings satisfaction.”

— Baltasar Gracián

31. “A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.”

— Baltasar Gracián

32. “The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.”

— Baltasar Gracián

33. “Words are feminine; deeds are masculine.”

— Baltasar Gracián

34. “Wise men appreciate all men, for they see the good in each and know how hard it is to make anything good.”

— Baltasar Gracián

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

— Baltasar Gracián

36. “There is no wilderness like a life without friends; friendship multiplies blessings and minimizes misfortunes; it is a unique remedy against adversity, and it soothes the soul.”

— Baltasar Gracián

37. “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.”

— Baltasar Gracián

38. “It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.”

— Baltasar Gracián

39. “One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.”

— Baltasar Gracián

40. “Don’t take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.”

— Baltasar Gracián

41. “Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.”

— Baltasar Gracián

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

— Baltasar Gracián

43. “Mix a little mystery with everything, for mystery arouses veneration.”

— Baltasar Gracián

44. “Hurry is the weakness of fools.”

— Baltasar Gracián

45. “Know or listen to those who know.”

— Baltasar Gracián

46. “A man is judged by his friends, for the wise and the foolish have never agreed.”

— Baltasar Gracián

47. “The things we remember best are those better forgotten.”

— Baltasar Gracián

48. “Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.”

— Baltasar Gracián

49. “Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one.”

— Baltasar Gracián

50. “There is no wilderness like a life without friends.”

— Baltasar Gracián