Quotation:
"Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers."
More quotes from: Baltasar Gracian
- "A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds ..."
- "A beautiful woman should break her mirror early. "
- "A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity. "
- "A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. "
- "Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one. "
- "At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, ..."
- "Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; ..."
- "Begin with another's to end with your own. "
- "Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone. "
- "Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a ..."
- "Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is ..."
- "Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their ..."
- "Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. "
- "Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment. "
- "Have friends. 'Tis a second existence. "
- "He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, ..."
- "He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave. "
- "He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well. "
- "Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. "
- "I strive to be brief, and I become obscure. "
- "It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even ..."
- "It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not ..."
- "It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. "
- "It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those ..."
- "Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he ..."
- "Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second. "
- "Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise. "
- "Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies. "
- "Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to ..."
- "Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose. "
- "Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong. "
- "Never have a companion that casts you in the shade. "
- "Never open the door to the lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink ..."
- "Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another's fame. "
- "One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity. "
- "Respect yourself if you would have others respect you. "
- "The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause. "
- "The wise does at once what the fool does at last. "
- "There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. "
- "There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but ..."
- "Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things ..."


