Let it be one of the chief lessons of experience to keep hope alive without entirely satisfying it, by preserving it to make oneself always needed even by a patron on the throne. When dependence disappears, good behaviour goes with it as well as respect. He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well, and the orange once sucked falls from the golden platter into the waste-basket.
More is to be got from dependence than from courtesy. To keep them on the threshold of hope is diplomatic, to trust to their gratitude boorish hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. The wise man would rather see men needing him than thanking him. Not he that adorns but he that adores makes a divinity. Knowledge without courage is sterile.Ĭreate a Feeling of Dependence. A man without knowledge, a world without light. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. They give immortality, because they are immortal. Knowledge and Courage are the elements of Greatness. Besides you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch. And if it happens to fail, you are doubly unfortunate. A resolution declared is never highly thought of it only leaves room for criticism. Cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom. And when you explain, be not too explicit, just as you do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary intercourse. Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery arouses veneration. If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation, especially when the importance of your position makes you the object of general attention. It is both useless and insipid to play with the cards on the table.
Admiration at their novelty heightens the value of your achievements. On the other hand, it is the fool's misfortune, to fail in obtaining the position, the employment, the neighbourhood, and the circle of friends that suit him. Intellect sufficeth not, character is also needed. There is more required nowadays to make a single wise man than formerly to make Seven Sages, and more is needed nowadays to deal with a single person than was required with a whole people in former times.Ĭharacter and Intellect: the two poles of our capacity one without the other is but halfway to happiness. The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Baltasar Gracián The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658) translated by Joseph Jacobs (1892)Įverything is at its Acme especially the art of making one's way in the world.
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