Baltasar Gracian

Work is the price which is paid for reputation.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.

Know or listen to those who know.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.

Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.

Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.

Always leave something to wish for otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

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.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

When desire dies, fear is born.

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.

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.