This page is an online version of Balthasar Gracian's most famous work, The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Gracian was a 17th century (1601-1658) Jesuit monk, and sometimes you can see religion reflected in his writings. Gracian wrote Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia (this book) in 1637, and it soon became popular throughout Europe. The entire book is a collection of 300 paragraphs on various topics. This work gives advice and guidance on how to live more fully, advance socially, and be a better person. Some of the material here may seem disagreeable. We advise that Gracian's writings be taken with lots of contemplation, it might help to absorb the material slowly and then explore it further.

This web page, like the book itself is divided into "Maxims" and "Paragraphs". Under "Maxims" you will find 300 one-sentence summaries of his 300 paragraphs, with links to the "Paragraphs" section on this page, which contains his entire book.

If you like "The Art Of Worldly Wisdom" and decide you want to buy it, go and order it at your local bookseller or from Amazon or in Canada at Nicholas Hoare Books.

1. Everything is at its peak of perfection. This is especially true of the art
of making one's way in the world. There is more required nowadays to make a
single wise person than formerly to make the Seven Sages of ancient Greece, and
more is needed nowadays to make a single person than was required with a whole
people in former times

 

2. Character and intellect. These are the two poles of our capacity; one
without the other is but halfway to happiness. Intellect is not enough,
character is also needed. On the other hand, it is the fool's misfortune to
fail in obtaining the position, employment, neighborhood, and circle of friends
of his choice.

 

3. Keep matters for a time in suspense. Admiration at their novelty heightens
the value of your achievements. It is both useless and insipid to play with
your cards on the table. If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse
expectation, especially when the importance of your position makes you the
object of general attention. Mix a little with everything, and the very mystery
arouses veneration. And when you explain, do not be too explicit, just as you
do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary conversation. Cautious silence
is the sacred sanctuary of worldly wisdom. A resolution declared is never
highly thought of - it only leaves room for criticism. And if it happens to
fail, you are doubly unfortunate. Besides, you imitate the divine way when you
inspire people to wonder and watch.

 

4. Knowledge and courage. These are the elements of greatness. Because they
are immortal they bestow immortality. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise
can do anything. A person without knowledge is in a world without light.
Wisdom and strength are the eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is
sterile.

 

5. Make people depend on you. It is not he that adorns but he that adores that
makes a divinity. The wise person would rather see others needing him than
thanking him. To keep them on the threshold of hope is diplomatic, to trust to
their gratitude is boorish; hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. More
is to be got from dependence than from courtesy. He that has satisfied his
thirst turns his back on the well, and the orange once squeezed fall from the
golden platter into the waste basket. When dependence disappears good behavior
goes with it, as well as respect. 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. But do not carry
silence to excess or you will go wrong, nor let another's failing grow incurable
for the sake of your own advantage.

 

6. A person at his peak. We are not born perfect. Every day we develop in our
personality and in our profession until we reach the highest point of our
completed being, to the full round of our accomplishments and of our
excellences. This is known by the purity of our taste, the clearness of our
thought, the maturity of our judgement, and the firmness of our will. Some
never arrive at being complete - something is always lacking. Others ripen
late. The complete person - wise in speech, prudent in act - is admitted to the
familiar intimacy of discreet people and is even sought out by them.

 

7. Avoid outshining your superiors. All victories breed hate, and that over
your superior is foolish or fatal. Preeminence is always detested, especially
over those who are in high positions. Caution can gloss over common advantages.
For example, good looks may be cloaked by careless attire. There are some that
will grant you superiority in good luck or in good temper, but none in good
sense, least of all a prince - for good sense is a royal prerogative and any
claim of superiority in that is a crime against majesty. They are princes, and
wish to be so in that most princely of qualities. They will allow someone to
help them but not to surpass them. So make any advice given to them appear
like a recollection of something they have only forgotten rather than as a guide
to something they cannot find. The stars teach us this finesse with happy tact:
though they are his children and brilliant like him, they never rival the
brilliance of the sun.

 

8. Be without passions. This is the highest quality of the mind. Its very
eminence redeems us from being affected by transient and low impulses. There is
no higher rule than that over oneself, over one's impulses; there is the triumph
of free will. When passion rules your character do not let it threaten your
position, especially if it is a high one. It is the only refined way of
avoiding trouble and the shortest way back to a good reputation.

 

9. Avoid the faults of your nation. Water shares the good or bad qualities of
the channels through which it flows and people share those of the climate in
which they are born. Some owe more than others to their native land, because
there is a more favorable sky in the zenith. There is not a nation among even
the most civilized that has not some fault peculiar to itself that other nations
blame by way of boast or as a warning. It is a triumph of cleverness to correct
in oneself such failings, or even to hide them. You get great credit for being
unique among your fellows because what is less expected is esteemed all the
more. There are also family failings as well as faults of position, of office,
or of age. If these all meet in one person and are not carefully guarded
against, they make an intolerable monster.

 

10. Fortune and Fame. Where the one is fickle the other is enduring. The first
is for this life, this second for the next; fortune against envy, fame against
oblivion. Fortune is desired and sometimes nurtured, but fame is earned. The
desire for fame springs from virtue. Fame was and is the sister of the giants;
it always goes to extremes - either horrible monsters or brilliant prodigies.

 

11. Cultivate relationships with those who can teach you. Let friendly
intercourse be a school of knowledge, and let culture be taught through
conversation. Thus you make your friends your teachers and mingle the pleasures
of conversation with the advantages of instruction. Sensible people enjoy
alternating pleasures: you are rewarded with applause for what you say and you
gain instruction from what you hear. We are always attracted to others by our
own interest, but in this case it is of a higher kind. Wise people frequent the
houses of great nobility as theaters of heroism not temples of vanity. They are
renowned for their worldly wisdom, not only for being oracles of all nobleness
by their example and their behavior, but because those who surround them form a
courtly academy of worldly wisdom of the best and noblest kind.

 

12. Nature and art, material and workmanship. There is no beauty unadorned and
no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by
artifice. This remedies the bad and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever
give us the very best - for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the
best of natural dispositions remains uncultured, lacking half its excellence if
training is absent. Everyone has something unrefined that needs training, and
every kind of excellence needs some polish.

 

13. Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse. Life is a
warfare against the malice of others. Sagacity fights with strategic changes of
intention - never doing what it threatens, aiming only to escape notice. It
aims in the air with dexterity and strikes home in an unexpected direction,
always seeking to conceal its game. It lets a purpose appear in order to
attract the opponent's attention, but then turns round and conquers by the
unexpected. But a penetrating intelligence anticipates this by watchfulness and
lurks in ambush. It always understands the opposite of what the opponent wishes
it to understand, and recognizes every feint of guile. It lets the first
impulse pass by and waits for the second. , or even the third. Sagacity now
rises to higher flights on seeing its artifice foreseen: It tries to deceive by
truth itself, changing its game in order to change its deceit, cheats by not
cheating, and bases its deception on the greatest candor. But the opposing
intelligence is on guard with increased watchfulness and discovers the darkness
concealed by the light and deciphers every move, the more subtle because more
simple. In this way the guile of the Python combats the far darting rays of
Apollo.

 

14. The thing itself and the way it is done. Substance is not enough,
attention to circumstance is also required. A bad manner spoils
everything - even reason and justice - a good one supplies everything, gilds,
even sweetens truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself. The
how plays a large part in affairs, a good manners steal people's hearts.
Fine behavior is a joy in life, and a pleasant expression can help you out of a
difficult situation in a remarkable way.

 

15. Keep auxiliary wits around you. It is a privilege of the powerful to
surround themselves with the champions of intellect who protect them from the
dangers of every ignorance, who untangle them from the snarls of every
difficulty. It is a rare greatness to know how to make use of the wise; it far
exceeds the barbarous taste of Tigranes, who delighted in enslaving kings as his
servants. It is a novel kind of supremacy - the best that life can offer - to
use skill to make as servants of those who by nature are our masters. It is a
great thing to know, little to live; there is no real life without knowledge.
There is remarkable cleverness in studying without effort, in getting much by
means of many, and through them all to become wise. Afterwards, you speak in
the council of chambers on behalf of many, and since as many sages speak through
your mouth as were consulted beforehand you thus obtain the fame of an oracle by
others' efforts. Such auxiliary wits distil the best books and serve up the
quintessence of wisdom. He that cannot have sages for service should have them
as his friends.

 

16. Knowledge and good intentions. Together they ensure continued success. A
fine intellect wedded to a wicked will is always an unnatural monster. A wicked
will poisons all perfections; helped by knowledge it only ruins with greater
subtlety. It is a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge
without sense is doubly folly.

 

17. Vary your mode of action. So as to distract attention, do not always do
things the same way, especially if you have a rival. Do not always act on first
impulse; people will soon recognize the uniformity and, by anticipating,
frustrate your designs. It is easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies
straight, not so one that twists and turns. Nor should you always act on second
thoughts; people will discern the plan the second time. The enemy is on the
watch, great skill is required to outwit him. The gamester never plays the card
the opponent expects, still less the one he wants.

 

18. Application and ability. There is no attaining eminence without both, and
where they unite there is the greatest fame. Mediocre people obtain more with
application than superior people without it. Work is the price that is paid for
reputation. What costs little is of little worth. Even for the highest posts
it is only in some cases application that is wanting, rarely the talent. To
prefer moderate success in great things over eminence in a humble post may be
excused by a generous mind, but there is no excuse for being content with humble
mediocrity when you could shine among the highest. Thus nature and art are both
needed, and application makes them complete.

 

19. Arouse no exaggerated expectations when you start something. It is the
misfortune of all celebrated people not to fulfill afterwards the expectations
beforehand formed of them. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is
easy to form ideals but very difficult to realize them. Imagination weds hope
and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However excellent
something is, it never suffices to fulfill expectations. And as people find
themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations they are more readily
disillusioned than impressed. Hope is a great falsifier of truth; let skill
guard against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. A few creditable
attempts at the beginning are sufficient to arouse curiosity without pledging
one to the final object. It is better that reality should surpass the design
and it turns out better than was thought. This rule does not apply to wicked
things, for the same exaggeration is a great aid with them and draws general
applause; what seemed at first extreme ruin comes to be thought of as quite
bearable.

 

20. A man of the times. The rarest individuals depend on their times. It is
not everyone that finds the times he deserves, and even when he finds it he does
not always know how to utilize it. Some people have been worthy of a better
century, for every species of good does not always triumph. Things have their
period - even excellent qualities are subject to fashion. Wisdom has one
advantage: she is immortal. If this is not her century many others will be.

 

21. The art of being lucky. There are rules of luck and the wise do not leave
it all to chance. Luck can be assisted by care. Some content themselves with
placing themselves confidently at the gate of fortune, waiting till she opens
it. Others do better, and press forward and profit by their clever boldness,
reaching the goddess and winning her favor on the wings of their virtue and
valor. But a true philosophy has no other umpire than virtue and insight - for
there is no good or bad luck except wisdom and foolishness.

 

22. Knowledge has a purpose. Wise people arm themselves with tasteful and
elegant erudition - a practical and expert knowledge of what is going on, not
common gossip. They possess a copious store of wise and witty sayings, and of
noble deeds, and know how to employ them at the right moment. Often, more is
taught by a jest than by the most serious teaching. Knowledge gained in
conversation can be of more help than the seven arts, however liberal.

 

23. Be free of imperfections. Few live without some weak point, either physical
or moral, which they pamper even though they could easily cure it. The keenness
of others often regrets to see a slight defect attaching itself to a whole
assembly of elevated qualities, and yet a single cloud can hide the whole of the
sun. There are likewise blemishes on our reputation, which those with ill will
soon discover and continually point out. The highest skill is to transform them
into ornament. So Caesar hid his natural defect (baldness) with the laurel.

 

24. Keep you imagination under control. You must sometimes correct it,
sometimes assist it. For it is all important for out happiness and balances
reason. The imagination can tyrannize, not being content with looking on, but
influences and even often dominates our life. It can make us happy or burden
us, depending on the folly that it leads us to. It can make us either content
or discontent with ourselves. Before some people it continually holds up the
penalties of action and becomes the mortifying lash of fools. To others the
imagination promises happiness and adventure with blissful delusion. It can do
all this unless you lord over it with the most prudent self-control.

 

25. Know how to take a hint. It was once the art of arts to be able to
discourse, now it is no longer sufficient. We must know how to take a hint,
especially in disabusing ourselves. You cannot make yourself understood if you
do not easily understand others. There are some who act like diviners of the
heart and lynxes of intentions. The very truths that concern us most are only
half spoken, but with attention we can grasp the whole meaning. When you hear
anything favorable keep a tight rein on your credulity; if unfavorable, give it
the spur.

 

26. Find out each person's thumbscrew. This is the art of setting their wills
in action. It needs more skill than resolution. You must know where to get at
any one. Every volition has a special motive that varies according to taste.
All people idolize something; for some it is fame, for others self-interest, for
most it is pleasure. Skill consists in knowing these idols in order to bring
them into play. Know a person's mainspring of motive and you have as it were
the key to his will. Have resort to primary motives, which are not always the
highest but more often the lowest part of his nature because there are more
dispositions badly organized than well. First guess a person's ruling passion,
appeal to it with words, set it in motion by temptation, and you will always
checkmate his freedom of will.

 

27. Prize intensity more than extent. Excellence resides in quality not in
quantity. The best is always few and rare - abundance lowers value. Even among
men, the giants are usually really dwarfs. Some reckon books by the thickness,
as if they were written to exercise the brawn more than the brain. Extent alone
never rises above mediocrity; it is the misfortune of universal geniuses that in
attempting to be at home everywhere are so nowhere. Intensity give eminence and
rises to the heroic in matters sublime.

 

28. Be common in nothing. Especially not in taste. It is great and wise to be
ill at ease when your deeds please the mob! The excesses of popular applause
never satisfy the sensible. There are chameleons of popularity who find
enjoyment not in the sweet savors of Apollo but in the breath of the mob.
Secondly, do not be common in intelligence; take no pleasure in the wonder of
the mob, for ignorance never gets beyond wonder. While vulgar folly wonders,
wisdom watches for the deception.

 

29. Be a person of integrity. Cling to righteousness with such tenacity of
purpose that neither the passions of the mob nor the violence of the tyrant can
ever cause you to transgress the bounds of right. But who can be such a phoenix
of equity? What a scanty following rectitude has! Many praise it indeed, but
few devote themselves. Others follow it until danger threatens; then the false
deny it and the political conceal it. For righteousness cares not if it
conflicts with friendship, power, or even self-interest; then comes the danger
of desertion. Astute people make plausible distinctions so as not to stand in
the way of their superiors or of reason of state. But straightforward and
constant people regard deception as a kind of treason and set more store in
tenacity than on sagacity. Such people are always to be found on the side of
truth, and if they desert a group they do not change due to fickleness but
because the others have first deserted truth.

 

30. Have nothing to do with disreputable occupations. And have still less to do
with fads that bring more notoriety than good reputation. There are many
fanciful sects, and the prudent person flees from them all. There are people
with bizarre tastes that always take to heart everything that wise people
repudiate. They live in love with eccentricity, and this may make them well
known indeed but more as an object of ridicule than of good reputation. A
cautious person does not make public his pursuit of wisdom, still less those
matters that make him or his followers seem ridiculous. These need not be
specified - common contempt has sufficiently singled them out.

 

31. Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky. Bad luck is generally the penalty
of folly and for the unfortunate there is no disease so contagious. Never open
the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones will invariably slink in
after it. The greatest skill at cards is to know when to discard; the smallest
of current tramps is worth more than the ace of trumps of the last game. When
in doubt, follow the suit of the wise and the prudent - sooner or later they
will win the odd trick.

 

32. Have a reputation for being gracious. It is the chief glory of the high and
the mighty to be gracious, a prerogative of kings to conquer with universal
goodwill. That is the great advantage of a commanding position - to be able to
do more good than others. Those make friends who do friendly acts. On the
other hand, there are some who fix themselves on not being gracious, not on
account of difficulty but due to a bad disposition. In all things they are the
opposite of divine grace.

 

33. Know how to withdraw. If it is a great lesson in life to know how to deny,
it is still greater to know how to deny oneself as regards both affairs and
persons. There are extraneous occupations that eat away precious time. To be
occupied in what does not concern you is worse than doing nothing. It is not
enough for a careful person not to interfere with others, he must see that they
do not interfere with him. One is not obliged to belong so much to others as
not to belong at all to oneself. So with friends, their help should not be
abused or more demanded from them than they themselves will grant. All excess
is a failing, but above all in personal relationships. A wise moderation in
this best preserves the goodwill and esteem for all, for by this means that
precious boon of courtesy is not gradually worn away. Thus you preserve your
genius and freedom to select the best and never sin against the unwritten laws
of good taste.

 

34. Know your strongest quality. Know your preeminent gift - cultivate it and
it will assist the rest. Everyone would have excelled in something if he had
known his strong point. Notice in what quality you surpass and take charge of
that. In some people judgement excels, in others valor. Most do violence to
their natural aptitude and thus attain superiority in nothing. Time enlightens
us too late of what was first only a flattering of the passions.

 

35. Think things over, especially those that are important. All fools come to
grief from lack of thought. They never see even half the things and, as they
do not observe their own loss or gain, still less do they apply any diligence to
them. Some make much of what matters little and little of much, always weighing
on the wrong scale. Many never lose their common sense, because they have non
to lose. There are matters that should be observed with the closest attention,
and thereafter always kept well in mind. The wise person thinks over
everything, but with a difference, most profoundly where there is more in it
than he first thought. Thus his comprehension extends as far as his
apprehension.

 

36. Before acting or refraining weigh your luck. More depends on that than on
noticing your temperament. If he is a fool who at forty applies first to
Hypocrites for health, still more is he one who only first applies to Seneca
for wisdom. It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck while
waiting for it. For something is accomplished by just waiting to use it at the
proper moment, since it has periods and offers opportunities - though one cannot
calculate its path because its steps are irregular. When you find fortune
favorable, stride boldly forward, for she favors the bold and, being a woman,
the young. But if you have bad luck, withdraw so as not to redouble the
influence of your unlucky star.

 

37. Keep a store of sarcasms and know how to use them. This is the point of
greatest tact in human intercourse. Such sarcasms are often thrown out to test
people's moods, and by their means one often obtains the most subtle and
penetrating touchstone of the heart. Other sarcasms are malicious, insolent,
poisoned by envy or envenomed by passion, unexpected flashes that destroy at
once all favor and esteem. Struck by the slightest word of this kind, many fall
away from the closest intimacy with superiors or inferiors that would not have
been the slightest shaken by a whole conspiracy of popular insinuation or
private malevolence. Other sarcasms work favorably, confirming and assisting
one's reputation. But the greater the skill with which they are launched, the
greater the caution with which they should be anticipated and received. For
here a knowledge of malice is in itself a means of defense, and a shot foreseen
always misses its mark.

 

38. Leave your luck while still winning. All the best players do it. A fine
retreat is as good as a gallant attack. Bring your exploits under cover when
there are enough, or even when there are many of them. Luck too long lasting is
always suspicious; alternating luck seems safer, and is even sweeter to the
taste for a little infusion of bitter sweet. The higher the heap of luck, the
greater the risk of a slip, and down comes all. Fortune pays you sometimes for
the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires
of carrying anyone long on her shoulders.

 

39. Recognize when things are ripe, and know how to enjoy them. The works of
nature all reach a certain point of maturity - up to then they improve, then
they degenerate. Few works of art reach such a point that they cannot be
improved. It is a special privilege of good taste to enjoy everything at its
ripest. Not everyone can do this, nor do all who can know how. There is a
ripening point too for fruits of intellect, but it is important to know how to
recognize it in order to both value it and use it.

 

40. Gain people's goodwill. It is a great thing to gain universal admiration,
but greater to gain universal affection. It depends on natural disposition but
more so on practice; the first is the foundation, the second then builds on
that. Great gifts are not enough, though they are thought to be essential - win
good opinion and it is easy to win goodwill. Kindly acts are required to
produce kindly feelings - do good with both hands, good words and better deeds,
love so as to be loved. Courtesy is the politic magic of great people. First,
lay the hand on deeds and then on the pen - words follow swords and the goodwill
to be won among writers is eternal.

 

41. Never exaggerate. It is an important object of attention not to talk in
superlatives, so as neither to offend truth nor cast doubt on your
understanding. Exaggeration wastes distinctions and shows the narrowness of
one's knowledge or taste. Praise arises lively curiosity, begets desire and if
afterwards the value does not correspond to the price - as generally happens -
expectation revolts against the deception and revenges itself by cheapening both
the thing praised and the praiser. A prudent person goes more cautiously to
works and prefers to err by understatement than by overstatement. Extraordinary
things are rare, therefore temper your evaluation. Exaggeration is akin to
lying, and you jeopardize your reputation for good taste and - much worse - good
sense.

 

42. Natural leadership. It is a secret force of superiority not to have to get
by artful trickery but by an inborn power of rule. All submit to it without
knowing why, recognizing the secret vigor of natural authority. Such
magisterial spirits are kings by merit and lions by innate privilege. By the
esteem that they inspire, they hold the hearts and minds of those around them.
If their other qualities permit, such people are born to be the prime movers of
the state. They perform more by a gesture than others by a long harangue.

 

43. Think with the few and speak with the many. Swimming against the stream
makes it impossible to remove error and easy to fall into danger - only a
Socrates can undertake it. To dissent from others' views is regarded as an
insult, because it is a condemnation of their judgement. The offense is doubled
on account of the judgement condemned and of the person who championed it.
Truth is for the few, error is both common and vulgar. The wise person is not
known by what he says on the public square, for there he speaks not with his own
voice but with that of common folly, however much his inmost thoughts may deny
it. The prudent person avoids being contradicted as much as he avoids
contradicting others - though they have their judgement ready they are not ready
to publish it. Thought is free, force cannot and should not be used on it. The
wise person therefore retires into silence and if he allows himself to come out
of it, he does so in the shade and before few and fit persons.

 

44. Sympathy with great minds. It is a heroic quality to agree with heroes. It
is like a miracle of nature both because of its mystery and for its usefulness.
There is a natural kinship of hearts and minds; its effects are such that vulgar
ignorance attributes it to magic potions. Esteem and goodwill follow and at
times reach affection. It persuades without words and obtains without earning.
This sympathy is sometimes active, sometimes passive; both bring great happiness
- the more so, the more sublime. It is a great art to recognize, to
distinguish, and to utilize this gift. No amount of energy suffices without
that favor of nature.

 

45. Use, but do not abuse, cunning. One ought not to delight in it, still less
boast of it. Everything artificial should be concealed, most of all cunning,
which is hated. Deceit is common, so our caution has to be redoubled, but not
so as to show itself, for caution arouses distrust, causes annoyance, awakens
revenge, and gives rise to more ills than you would imagine. To go to work with
caution is of great advantage in action, and there is no greater proof of
wisdom. The greatest skill in any deed consists in the sure mastery with which
it is executed.

 

46. Master your antipathies. We often allow ourselves to form dislikes of
people, even before we know anything about them. At times this innate yet
vulgar aversion attaches itself to eminent people. Good sense masters this
feeling, for there is nothing better than ourselves. As sympathy with great
people ennobles us, so dislike of them degrades us.

 

47. Avoid incurring obligations. This is one of the chief aims of prudence.
People of great ability keep extremes far apart, so that there is a long
distance between them. They always keep in the middle of their caution, so they
take time to act. It is easier to avoid committing yourself to something than
it is to come out of it well. Such affairs test our judgement - it is better to
avoid them than to conquer in them. One obligation leads to another and may
lead to an affair of dishonor. There are people so constituted by nature or by
nation that they easily enter upon such obligations. But for those who walk by
the light of reason, such matters require long thinking over. There is more
valor needed not to take up the affair than in conquering in it. When there is
one fool ready for the occasion, one may excuse oneself from being the second.

 

48. So much depends on being a person of depth. The interior must be at least
as impressive as the exterior. Some people's character is all façade, like
houses that, due to lack of means, have the portico of a palace leading to the
rooms of a cottage. It is no use boring into such people - although they will
bore you - because conversation flags after the first salutation. They prance
through the first compliments like Sicilian stallions, but silence quickly
follows, for the flow of words soon ceases where there is no spring of thoughts.
Others may be taken in by them because they themselves have superficial views,
but not the prudent, who look within them and find nothing there except material
for scorn.

 

49. Be a person of observation and judgement. Such a person rules things, not
they him. He quickly plumbs the most profound depths. He knows how to get at
the anatomy of character. On seeing a person he understands him and judges his
inmost nature. From a few observations he deciphers what is most hidden. Keen
observation, subtle insight, judicious inference - with these he discovers,
notices grasps, and comprehends everything.

 

50. Never lose your self-respect. And do not be too self-conscious. Let your
own integrity be the true standard of your rectitude, and let your own self-
judgement be more strict than all external laws. Avoid anything unseemly more
from regard for your own self-respect than from fear of external authority. Pay
regard to that and there is no need of Seneca's imaginary monitor.

 

51. Know how to choose well. Most of life depends on this. You need good taste
and correct judgement, for which neither intellect nor study suffices. To be
choice, you must choose well, and for this two things are needed: to be able to
choose at all, and then to choose the best. There are many people with fertile
and subtle minds, of keen judgement, of much learning, and of great observation
who still are at a loss when they come to choosing. They always take the worst
as if they were determined to go wrong. Thus, knowing how to choose well is one
of the greatest gifts.

 

52. Never be upset. It is a great aim of prudence never to be embarrassed.
This is the sign of a real person, of a noble heart, for magnanimity is not
easily put off balance. The passions are the humors of the soul, and every
excess in them weakens prudence. If they overflow through the mouth, the
reputation will be in danger. Let us therefore be so great a master over
ourselves that neither in the most fortunate nor in the most adverse
circumstances can anything cause our reputation injury by disturbing our self-
possession but rather enhance it by showing superiority.

 

53. Be diligent and intelligent. Diligence promptly executes what intelligence
carefully thought through. Haste is the failing of fools - they know not the
obstacles and set to work without preparation. On the other hand, the wise more
often fail from procrastination - foresight begets deliberation, and delay often
nullifies prompt judgement. Promptness is the mother of good fortune. He has
done much who leaves nothing until tomorrow. "Make haste slowly" is a
magnificent motto.

 

54. Know how to show your strength. Even hares can pull the mane of a dead
lion. Courage is no joking matter. Give way to the first and you must yield to
the second, and so on till the last, and to gain your point in the end costs as
much trouble as it would have a first. Moral courage exceeds physical courage;
it should be like a sword kept ready for use in the scabbard of caution. It is
your shield. Moral cowardice degrades one more than physical weakness. Many
have had eminent qualities yet, for want of a stout heart, they passed inanimate
lives and found a tomb in their own sloth. Wise nature has thoughtfully
combined in the bee the sweetness of its honey with the sharpness of its sting.

 

55. Know how to wait. It is a sign of a noble heart to be endowed with
patience, never to be in a hurry, never to be given over to passion. First be
master over yourself if you would be master over others. You must pass through
the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity. A wise
reserve seasons the aims and matures the means. Time's crutch effects more than
the iron club of Hercules. God himself chastens not with a rod but with time.
"Time and I against any two," is a great saying. Fortune rewards the first
prize to those who wait.

 

56. Have presence of mind. This is the child of a happy readiness of spirit.
Owing to this vivacity and alertness there is no fear of danger of accident.
Many reflect much only to go wrong in the end and others attain their aim
without thinking about it beforehand. There are paradoxical characters who work
best in an emergency. They are like monster who succeed in all they do offhand,
but fail in everything they think over. Something occurs to them at once or
never - for them there is no court of appeal. Promptness wins applause because
it proves remarkable capacity: subtlety of judgement, prudence in action.

 

57. Be slow and sure. Things are done quickly enough if done well If just
quickly done they can be quickly undone. To last an eternity requires an
eternity of preparation. Only excellence counts, only achievement endures.
Profound intelligence is the only foundation for immortality. What is worth
much costs much. The precious metals are the heaviest.

 

58. Adapt yourself to those around you. There is no need to show your ability
before everyone. Employ no more force than is necessary. Let there be no
unnecessary expenditure either of knowledge or of power. The skillful falconer
only flies enough birds to serve for the chase. If there is too much display
today there will be nothing to show tomorrow. Always have some novelty with
which to dazzle. To show something fresh each day keeps expectations alive and
conceals the limits of capacity.

 

59. Finish off well. In the house of fortune if you enter by the gate of
pleasure you must leave by that of sorrow, and vice versa. You ought therefore
to think of the finish, and attach more importance to a happy exit than to
applause on entrance. It is the common lot of the unlucky to have a very
fortunate beginning and a very tragic end. The important point is not the
vulgar applause on entrance - that comes to nearly all - but the general feeling
at exit. Few in life are felt to deserve an encore. Fortune rarely accompanies
anyone to the door, and as warmly as she may welcome the coming, she is cold to
the parting guest.

 

60. Have sound judgement. Some are born wise and with this natural advantage
enter upon their studies with half their journey to success already mastered.
With age and experience their reason ripens, and thus they attain a sound
judgement. They abhor everything whimsical as leading prudence astray,
especially in matters of state, where certainty is so necessary, owing to the
importance of the affairs involved. Such people deserve to stand at the helm of
government either as navigators or as helmsmen.

 

61. Excel in what is excellent. It is a great rarity among excellences. You
cannot have a great person without something preeminent. Mediocrity never wins
applause. Eminence is some distinguished post distinguishes one from the vulgar
mob and ranks us with the exceptional. To be distinguished in a small post is
to be great in little - the more comfort the less glory. To be excellent at
great things is a royal characteristic - it excites admiration and wins
goodwill.

 

62. Use good instruments. Some would have the subtlety of their wits proven by
the poorness of their instruments. This is a dangerous satisfaction and
deserves a fatal punishment. The excellence of a minister never diminished the
greatness of his lord. All the glory of exploits reverts to the principal
actor, also all the blame. Fame only does business with principals. She does
not say. "This had good, that had bad servants," but, "This was a good artist,
that a bad one." Therefore, let your assistants be selected and tested, for you
have to trust them an immortality of fame.

 

63. To be the first of the kind is excellent. And to be eminent in it as well
is twice as good. To have the first move is a great advantage when the players
are equal. Many a person would have been as unique as a phoenix if he had been
the first of the sort. Those who come first are the heirs of fame. The others
get only a younger brother's allowance; whatever they do, they cannot persuade
the world they are anything more than parrots. Extraordinary people find a new
path to eminence, and prudence accompanies them all the way. Because of the
novelty of their enterprises, sages write their names in the golden books of
heroes. Some prefer to be first in things of minor importance than second in
greater exploits.

 

64. Avoid worry. Such prudence brings its own reward. It escapes much, and is
thus the midwife of comfort and so of happiness. Neither give nor take bad news
unless it can help. Some people's ears are stuffed with the sweets of flattery,
others with the bitters of scandal, while some cannot live without a daily
annoyance no more than Mithridates (Mithridates VI, 132-63 BCE, King of Pontus,
is said to have taken small doses of poison to immunize himself from it in an
event that it might be used in an assassination attempt) without poison. It is
no rule of life to prepare for yourself lifelong trouble in order to give a
temporary enjoyment to another, however near and dear. You should never spoil
your own chances in order to please another who advises but keeps out of the
affair.

 

65. Cultivate taste. You can train it like the intellect. Full knowledge whets
desire and increases enjoyment. You may know a noble spirit by the elevation of
his taste. Only a great thing can satisfy a great mind. Big bites for big
mouths, lofty things for lofty spirits. Before their judgement the bravest
tremble, the most perfect lose confidence. Few things are of the first
importance, so let appreciation be rare. Taste can be imparted by personal
intercourse; it is great good luck to associate with the highest taste. But do
not profess to be dissatisfied with everything; this is the extreme of folly,
and more odious if from affectation than if from unreachable ideals. Some would
have God create another world and other ideals to satisfy their fantastic
imagination.

 

66. See to it that things end well. Some regard more the rigor of the game than
the winning of it, but to the world the discredit of the final failure does away
with any recognition of previous diligence. The victor need not explain. The
world does not notice the details of the measures employed, but only the good or
bad result. You lose nothing if you gain your end. A good end gilds
everything, however unsatisfactory the means. Thus at times it is part of the
art of life to transgress the rules of the art, if you cannot end well
otherwise.

 

67. Choose an occupation that wins distinction. Most things depend on the
satisfaction of others. Esteem is to excellence what the west wind is to
flowers: the breath of life. There are some occupations that gain universal
esteem, while others more important are without credit. The former, pursued
before the eyes of all, obtain the universal favor; the others, though they are
rarer and more valuable, remain obscure and unperceived, honored but not
applauded. Among princes, conquerors are the most celebrated, and therefore the
kings of Aragon earned such applause as warriors, conquerors, and great people.
An able person will prefer occupations of distinction, which all know of and
utilize - he thus becomes immortalized by universal suffrage.

 

68. It is better to help with intelligence than with memory. The latter needs
only recollection, the former requires thought. Many people fail to do what is
appropriate to the moment because it does not occur to them. A friend's advice
on such occasions may enable them to see the advantages. It is one of the
greatest gifts of mind to be able to offer what is needed at the right moment;
for want of that many things fail to be performed. Share the light of your
intelligence, when you have any, and ask for it when you have it not - the first
cautiously, the last anxiously. Give no more than a hint. The finesse is
especially necessary when it touches the interests of him whose attention you
awaken. You should give but a taste at first, and then pass on more when that
is not sufficient. If he thinks of no, go cleverly in search of
yes. Most things are not simply because they are not attempted.

 

69. Do not give way to every common impulse. He is great who never allows
himself to be influenced by the impressions of others. Self-reflection is the
school of wisdom; to know one's current disposition and to allow for it, even
going to the other extreme so as to find a balance between nature and art.
Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement. There are some whose
humors are so monstrous that they are always under the influence of one or other
of them in place of their real inclinations. They are torn asunder by such
disharmony and get involved in contradictory obligations. Such excesses not
only destroy firmness of will, all power of judgement gets lost and desire and
knowledge pull in opposite directions.

 

70. Know how to say "no." One ought not to give way in everything nor to
everybody. To know how to refuse is therefore as important as to know how to
consent. This is especially the case with people of power. Everything depends
on how you do it. Some people's no is thought more of than the
yes of others; for a gilded no is more satisfactory than a dry
yes. There are some who always have no on their lips, whereby
they make everything distasteful. No always comes first with them, and
when sometimes they give way after all, it does them no good on account of the
unpleasant beginning. Your refusal need not be point-blank; let the
disappointment come by degrees. Nor let the refusal be final - that would
destroy dependence, so let some spice of hope remain to soften the rejection.
Let politeness compensate and fine words supply the place of deeds. Yes
and no are soon said, but give much to think over.

 

71. Do not vacillate. Do not let your actions be abnormal either from
disposition or affectation. A wise person is always consistent in his best
qualities, and because of this he gets the credit of trustworthiness. If he
changes, he does so for good reason and after good consideration. In matters of
conduct change is hateful. There are some who are different every day - their
intelligence varies, still more their will, and with this their fortune.
Yesterday's white is today's black; today's no was yesterday's
yes. They always give the lie to their own credit and destroy their
credit with others.

 

72. Be resolute. Bad execution of your designs does less harm than irresolution
in forming them. Streams do less harm flowing than when dammed up. There are
some people so infirm of purpose that they always require direction from others,
and this not on account of any perplexity, for they judge clearly, but for their
sheer incapacity for action. It takes some skill to find out difficulties but
more to find a way out of them. There are others who never get bogged down;
their clear judgement and determined character fit them for the highest
callings, their intelligence tells them where to insert the thin end of the
wedge, their resolution how to drive it home. They soon get through anything,
and when they have done with one sphere of action, they are ready for another.
Wedded to fortune, they make themselves sure of success.

 

73. Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.
They extricate themselves from the most intricate labyrinth by some witty
application of a bright remark. They get out of a serious contention by an airy
nothing or by raising a smile. Most of the great leaders are well grounded in
this art. When you have to refuse something, often the most courteous way is to
just change the subject. And sometimes it proves the highest understanding to
act like you do not understand.

 

74. Do not be unapproachable. The most wild beasts live in the most populous
places. To be inaccessible is the fault of those who distrust themselves, whose
honors change their manners. It is no way to earn people's goodwill by being
ill-tempered with them. What a sight it is to see one of those unsociable
monsters who make a point of being proudly impertinent. Their servants, who
have the misfortune to be obliged to speak with them, enter as if prepared for a
fight with a tiger: armed with patience and with fear. To obtain their high
position these unapproachable people must have ingratiated themselves with
everyone, but having arrived there they seek to compensate themselves by
irritating all. It is a condition of their position that they should be
accessible to all, yet from pride or spite they are so to none. A civil way to
punish such people is to let them alone, depriving them of the chance of
improvement by granting them no opportunity for intercourse.

 

75. Chose a heroic ideal. Emulate rather than imitate. There are exemplars of
greatness, living texts of honor. Let everyone have before his mind the best in
his profession, not so much to follow him as to spur himself on. Alexander wept
not on account of Achilles being dead and buried, but over himself because his
fame had not yet spread throughout the world. Nothing arouses ambition so much
in the heart as the trumpet call of another's fame. The same thing that
sharpens envy nourishes a generous spirit.

 

76. Do not always be joking. Wisdom is shown in serious matters, and is more
appreciated than mere wit. He that is always ready for jests is never ready for
serious things. Jokers resemble liars in that people never believe either,
always expecting a lie in one, a joke in the other. One never knows when you
speak with judgement, which is the same as if you had none. A continual jest
soon loses all zest. Many get their reputation for being witty but thereby lose
the credit for being sensible. Jest has its little hour, seriousness should
have all the rest.

 

77. Be all things to all people. Be a discreet Proteus, learned with the
learned, saintly with the sainted. It is the great are to gain everyone's
support; general agreement gains goodwill. Notice people's moods and adapt
yourself to each, genial or serious as the case may be. Follow their lead,
glossing over the changes as cunningly as possible. This is an especially
indispensable art for people who are dependant on others. But this skill in the
art of living calls for great cleverness. He only will find no difficulty who
has a universal genius in his knowledge and universal ingenuity in his wit.

 

78. The art of undertaking things. Fools rush in through the door - for folly
is always bold. The same simplicity that robs them of all attention to caution
deprives them of all sense of shame at failure. But prudence enters with more
deliberation. Its forerunners are caution and care; they advance and discover
whether you can also advance without danger. Every rush forward might have been
freed from danger by caution, but fortune sometimes helps in such cases. Go
cautiously where you suspect depth. Sagacity goes cautiously forward while
discretion covers the ground. Nowadays there are unsuspected depths in human
intercourse, you must therefore plumb the waters as you go.

 

79. A jovial disposition. With moderation it is an accomplishment, not a
defect. A grain of gaiety seasons all. The greatest people join in the fun at
times and it makes them liked by all. But they should always on such occasions
preserve their dignity nor go beyond the bounds of decorum. Others, again, use
a joke to get themselves out of a difficulty quickly. For there are things you
must take in fun, though others perhaps mean them in earnest. This shows a
sense of calm, which acts as a magnet on all hearts.

 

80. Take care when you get information. We live by information, not by sight.
We exist by faith in others. The ear is the sidedoor of truth but the frontdoor
of lies. The truth is generally seen, rarely heard. She seldom comes in
elemental purity, especially from afar - there is always some admixture of the
moods of those through whom she has passed. The passions tinge her, sometimes
favorably, sometimes odiously. She always brings out people's disposition,
therefore receive her with caution from him that praises, with more caution from
him that blames. Pay attention to the intention of the speaker; you should know
beforehand on what footing he comes. Let reflection test for falsity and
exaggeration.

 

81. Renew your brilliance. This is the privilege of the phoenix. Ability grows
old, and with it fame. The staleness of custom weakens admiration, and a
mediocrity that is new often eclipses the highest excellence grown old. Try
therefore to be born again in valor, in genius, in fortune, in everything.
Display startling novelty - rise afresh like the sun every day. Change too the
scene of your shine, so that your loss may be felt in the old scenes of your
triumph, while the novelty of your powers wins you applause in the new.

 

82. Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor bad. A sage once reduced all
virtue to the golden mean. Push right to the extreme and it becomes wrong;
press all the juice from an orange and it becomes bitter. Even in enjoyment
never go to extremes. Thought too subtle is dull. If you milk a cow too much
you draw blood, not milk.

 

83. Allow yourself some forgivable sin. Some such carelessness is often the
greatest recommendation of talent. For envy causes ostracism, most envenomed
when most polite. Envy counts every perfection as a failing and that it has no
faults itself. Being perfect in all envy condemns perfection in all. It
becomes an Argus (mythological, hundred-eyed giant), all eyes for imperfection,
if only for its own consolation. Blame is like the lightning - it hits the
highest. Let Homer nod now and then and affect some negligence in valor or in
intellect - not in prudence - so as to disarm malevolence, or at least to
prevent its bursting with its own venom. You thus leave your cape on the horns
of envy (like a matador) in order to save your immortality.

 

84. Make use of your enemies. You should learn to seize things not by the
blade, which cuts, but by the handle, which saves you from harm - especially
with the doings of your enemies. A wise person gets more use from his enemies
than a fool from his friends. Their ill will often levels mountains of
difficulties that one would otherwise not face. Many have had their greatness
made for them by their enemies. Flattery is more dangerous than hatred, because
it covers the stains that the other causes to be wiped out. The wise will turn
ill will into a mirror more faithful than that of kindness, and remove or
improve the faults referred to. Caution thrives well when rivalry and ill will
are next-door neighbors.

 

85. Do not be a wild card, a jack-of-all-trades. It is a fault of excellence
that being so much in use it is liable to abuse. Because all covet it, all are
vexed by it. It is great misfortune to be of use to nobody - scarcely less to
be of use to everybody. People who reach this stage lose by gaining, and in the
end bore those who desired them before. These wild cards wear away all kinds of
excellence. Losing the earlier esteem of the few, they obtain discredit among
the vulgar. The remedy against this extreme is to moderate your brilliance. Be
extraordinary in your excellence, if you like, but be ordinary in your display
of it. The more light a torch gives, the more it burns away and the nearer it
is to burning out. Show yourself less and you will be rewarded by being
esteemed more.

 

86. Prevent scandal. Many heads go to make the mob, and in each of them there
are eyes for malice to use and a tongue for detraction to wag. If a single ill
report spreads, it casts a blemish on your fair fame, and if it clings to you
with a nickname, your reputation is in danger. Generally it is some salient
defect or ridiculous trait that gives rise to the rumors. At times these are
malicious inflations of private envy to general distrust. For these are wicked
tongues that ruin a great reputation more easily by a witty sneer than by a
direct accusation. It is easy to get a bad reputation because it is easy to
believe evil but hard to eradicate. The wise therefore avoid such incidents,
guarding against vulgar scandal with constant vigilance. It is far easier to
prevent than to rectify.

 

87. Culture and elegance. We are born barbarians and only raise ourselves above
the beast by culture. Culture therefore makes the person; the greater a person
the more culture. Thanks to this, Greece could call the rest of the world
barbarians. Ignorance is very raw - nothing contributes so much to culture as
knowledge. But even knowledge is coarse if without elegance. Not alone must
our intelligence be elegant, but also our desires, and above all our
conversation. Some people are naturally elegant in internal and external
qualities, in their thoughts, in their words, in their dress, which is the rind
of the soul as their talents are its fruit. There are others, on the other
hand, so gauche that everything about them, even their most excellent quality,
is tarnished by an intolerable and barbaric want of neatness.

 

88. Let your behavior be fine and noble. A great person ought not to be little
in his actions. He ought never to pry too minutely into things, least of all in
unpleasant matters. For though it is important to know all, it is not necessary
to know all about all. One ought to act in such cases with the generosity of a
gentleman, with conduct worthy of a gallant person. To pretend to overlook
things is a large part of the work of ruling. Most things must be left
unnoticed among relatives and friends, and even among enemies. All superfluity
is annoying, especially in things that annoy. To keep hovering around the
object of your annoyance is a kind of mania. Generally speaking, everybody
behaves according to his heart and his understanding.

 

89. Know yourself. Know your talents and capacity, in judgement and
inclination. You cannot master yourself unless you know yourself. There are
mirrors for the face but none for the mind. Let careful thought about yourself
serve as a substitute. When the outer image is forgotten, keep the inner one to
improve and perfect. Learn the force of your intellect and capacity for
affairs, test the force of your courage in order to apply it, and keep your
foundations secure and your head clear for everything.

 

90. The secret of long life. Lead a good life. Two things bring life speedily
to an end: folly and immorality. Some lose their life because they have not the
intelligence to keep it, others because they have not the will. Just as virtue
is its own reward, so is vice its own punishment. He who lives a fast life runs
through life to its end doubly quick. A virtuous life never dies. The firmness
of the soul is communicated to the body, and a good life is not only long but
also full.

 

91. Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts about its prudence. A
suspicion of failure in the mind of the doer is proof positive of it in that of
the onlooker, especially if he is a rival. If in the heat of action your
judgement wavers, it will afterwards in cool reflection be condemned as folly.
Action is dangerous where prudence is in doubt - better leave such things alone.
Wisdom does not trust to probabilities, it always marches in the midday light of
reason. How can an enterprise succeed which the judgement condemns as soon as
it was conceived? If resolutions passed unanimously by an inner court often
turn out badly, what can we expect of those undertaken by a doubting reason and
a vacillating judgement?

 

92. Transcendent wisdom. I mean in everything. An ounce of wisdom is worth
more than a ton of cleverness is the first and highest rule of all deeds and
words, the more necessary to be followed the higher and more numerous your post.
It is the only sure way, though it may not gain so much applause. A reputation
for wisdom is the last triumph of fame. It is enough if you satisfy the wise,
for their judgement is the touchstone of true success.

 

93. Versatility. A man of many excellent qualities equals many men. By
imparting his own enjoyment of life to his circle of friends and followers he
enriches their life. Variety in excellences is the delight of life. It is a
great art to profit by all that is good, and, since nature has made people in
their most perfected form an abstract of herself, so let art create in them a
true microcosm by training their taste and intellect.

 

94. Keep the extent of your abilities unknown. The wise person does not allow
his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be
honored by all. He allows you to know him but not to comprehend him. No one
must know the extent of a wise person's abilities, lest he be disappointed. No
one should ever have an opportunity to fathom him entirely. For guesses and
doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate
knowledge of them, be they ever so great.

 

95. Keep expectation alive. Keep stirring it up. Let much promise more, and
great deeds herald greater. Do not rest your whole fortune on a single cast of
the dice. It requires great skill to moderate your forces so as to keep
expectation from being dissipated

 

96. The highest discretion. It is the throne of reason, the foundation of
prudence - by its means success is gained at little cost. It is a gift from
above, and should be prayed for as the first and best quality. It is the main
piece of the suit of armor, and so important that its absence makes a person
imperfect, whereas with other qualities it is merely a question needing more or
less. All the actions of life depend in its application - all requires its
assistance, for everything needs intelligence. Discretion consists in a natural
tendency to the most rational course, combined with a liking for the surest.

 

97. Obtain and preserve a reputation. It is something only borrowed from fame.
It is expensive to obtain a reputation, for it only attaches to distinguished
abilities, which are as rare as mediocrities are common. Once obtained, it is
easily preserved. It confers many an obligation, but it does more. When it is
owing to elevated powers or lofty spheres of action, it rises to a kind of
veneration and yields a sort of majesty. But it is only a well-founded
reputation that lasts permanently.

 

98. Write your intentions in cipher. The passions are the gates of the soul.
The most practical knowledge consists in disguising them. He that plays with
cards exposed runs a risk of losing the stakes. The reserve of caution should
combat the curiosity of inquirers with the policy of the inky cuttlefish. Do
not even let your tastes be known, lest others utilize them either by running
counter to them or by flattering them.

 

99. Reality and appearance. Things pass for what they seem, not for what they
are. Few see inside, many get attached to appearances. It is not enough to be
right if your actions look false and ill.

 

100. Be a person without illusions, one who is wise and righteous, a
philosophical courtier. Be all these, not merely seem to be them, still less
affect to be them. Philosophy is nowadays discredited, but yet it was always
the chief concern of the wise. The art of thinking has been degraded. Seneca
introduced it at Rome, it found favor for a time among nobility, but now it is
considered nonsense. And yet the discovery of deceit was always thought the
true nourishment of a thoughtful mind, the true delight of a virtuous soul.

 

101. One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all.
Everything is good or everything is bad according to who you ask. What one
pursues another persecutes. He is an insufferable ass who would regulate
everything according to his ideas. Excellences do not depend on a single
person's pleasure. So many people, so many tastes, all different. There is no
defect that is not affected by some. We need not lose heart if something does
not please someone, for others will appreciate I; nor need their applause turn
our head, for there will surely be others to condemn it. The real test of
praise is the approval of renowned people and of experts in the field. You
should aim to be independent of any one opinion, of any one fashion, of any one
century.

 

102. Be able to stomach big slices of luck. In the body of wisdom not the least
important organ is a big stomach, for great capacity implies great parts. Big
bits of luck do not embarrass one who can digest still bigger ones. What is a
surfeit for one may be hunger for another. Many are troubled as it were with
weak digestion, owing to their small capacity, being neither born nor trained
for great employment. Their actions turn sour, and the fumes that arise from
their undeserved honors turn their proper place, for luck finds no proper place
in them. A person of talent therefore should show that he has more room for
even greater enterprises, and above all avoid showing signs of a little heart.

 

103. Let each keep up his dignity. Let each deed of a person in its degree,
though he be not a king, be worthy of a prince and let his action be princely
within due limits. Sublime in action, lofty in thought, in all things like a
king, at least in merit if not in might. For true kingship lies in spotless
rectitude, and he need not envy greatness who can serve as a model of it.
Especially should those near the throne aim at true superiority, and prefer to
share the true qualities of royalty rather than take parts in its mere
ceremonies - yet without affecting its imperfections but sharing in its true
dignity.

 

104. Get to know what is needed in different occupations. Different qualities
are required. To know which is needed taxes attention and calls for masterly
discernment. Some demand courage, others tact. Those that merely require
rectitude are the easiest, the more difficult are those requiring cleverness.
For the former all that is necessary is character, for the latter all of one's
attention and zeal may not suffice. It is a troublesome business to rule
people, still more fools or blockheads - twice as much sense is needed with
those who have none. It is intolerable when an office engrosses someone with
fixed hours and a settled routine. Those are better that leave him free to
follow his own devices, combining variety with importance, for the change
refreshes the mind. The most respected jobs are those that have least, or most
distant, dependence on others. The worst are those that worry us both here and
hereafter.

 

105. Do not be a bore. The person obsessed with one activity or one topic is
apt to be tiresome. Brevity is flattering and get more accomplished - it gains
by courtesy what it loses by curtness. Good things, when short, are twice as
good. The quintessence of the matter is more effective than a big mishmash of
details. It is a well known truth that talkative person rarely is wise, whether
in dealing with things at hand or how they function. There are people who serve
more as stumbling blocks than centerpieces, useless lumber in everyone's way.
The wise avoid being bores, especially to the great - who are fully occupied; it
is worse to disturb one of them than all the rest. Well said is soon said.

 

106. Do not parade your position. To boast about your position is more
offensive than personal vanity. To pose as an important person is to be hated -
you should surely have had enough envy. The more you seek esteem the less you
obtain it, for it depends on the opinion of others. You cannot take it, but
must earn and receive it from others. Great positions require exercising a
sufficient amount of authority - without it they cannot be adequately filled.
Preserve therefore enough dignity to carry on the duties of the office. Do not
enforce respect, but try to create it. Those who insist on the dignity of their
office, show they have not deserved it, and that it is too much for them. If
you wish to be valued, be valued for your talents, not for anything obtained by
chance. Even kings prefer to be honored for their personal qualifications
rather than for their station.

 

107. Show no self-satisfaction. You must neither be discontented with yourself,
which is weak spirited, nor self-satisfied, which is folly. Self-satisfaction
arises mostly from ignorance, and it would be a happy ignorance not without its
advantages if it did not ruin reputation. Because a person cannot achieve the
superlative perfections of others, he contents himself with any mediocre talent
of his own. Distrust is wise, and even useful, either to evade mishaps or to
afford consolation when they come. For a misfortune cannot surprise a man who
has already feared it. Even Homer nods at times, and Alexander fell from his
lofty state due to his illusions. Things depend on many circumstances - what
constitutes triumph in one set may cause a defeat in another. In the midst of
all, incorrigible folly remains the same with empty self-satisfaction,
blossoming, flowering, and running all to seed.

 

108. The shortest path to greatness is along with others. Intercourse with the
right people works well; manners and taste are shared, good sense and even
talent grow insensibly. Let the impatient person then make a comrade of the
sluggish, and so with the other temperaments, so that without forcing it the
golden mean is obtained. It is a great art to agree with others. The
alternation of contraries beautifies and sustains the world, and if it can cause
harmony in the physical world, still more can it do in the moral. Adopt this
policy in the choice of friends and defendants - by joining extremes the more
effective middle way is found.

 

109. Do not be censorious. There are people of gloomy character who regard
everything as faulty, not from any evil motive but because it is their nature
to. They condemn all - these for what they have done, those for what they will
do. This indicates a nature worse than cruel, vile indeed. They accuse with
such exaggeration that they make out of motes beams with which to poke out the
eyes. They are always taskmasters who could turn a paradise into a prison - if
passion intervenes they drive matters to the extreme. A noble nature, on the
contrary, always knows how to find an excuse for failings, saying the intention
was good, or it was an error of oversight.

 

110. Do not wait till you are a setting sun. It is a maxim of the wise to leave
things before things leave them. One should be able to snatch a triumph at the
end, just as the sun even at its brightest often retires behind a cloud so as
not to be seen sinking, and to leave in doubt whether he has sunk or not.
Wisely withdraw from the mere chance of mishap, lest you have to do so when it
becomes reality. Do not wait until they turn you the cold shoulder and carry
you to the grave, alive in feeling but dead in esteem. Wise trainers put
racehorses out to pasture before they arouse derision by falling on the course.
A beauty should break her mirror early, lest she do so later with open eyes.

 

111. Have friends. A friends is a second self. Every friend is good and wise
for his friend; between them everything turn to good. Everyone is as others
wish him to be - but in order that they may wish him well, he must win their
hearts and so their tongues. There is no magic like a good turn, and the way to
gain friendly feelings is to do friendly acts. The most and best of us depend
on others - we have to live either among friends or among enemies. So seek
someone everyday who will wish you well - if not a friend, by-and-by after
trials some of these will become your confidants.

 

112. Gain goodwill. For thus the first and highest cause foresees and furthers
the greatest objects. By gaining their goodwill you gain people's good opinion.
Some trust so much to merit that they neglect grace, but wise men know that it
is a long and stony road without a lift from favor. Goodwill facilitates and
supplies everything. It supposes gifts or even supplies them, such as courage,
zeal, knowledge, or even discretion; whereas it will not see defects because it
does not search for them. It arises from some common interest, either material,
as in disposition, nationality, family, race, occupation; or formal, which is of
a higher kind of communion, as in capacity, obligation, reputation or merit.
The whole difficulty is to gain goodwill - to keep it is easy. It has, however,
to be sought for and when found to be utilized.

 

113. In times of prosperity prepare for adversity. It is both wiser and easier
to collect winter stores in summer. In prosperity favors are cheap and friends
are many. It is well therefore to save them for more unlucky days, for
adversity costs dear and has no helpers. Retain a store of friends and people
who are in your debt - the day may come when their price will go up. Lowly
minds never have friends - in luck they will not recognize them, in misfortune
they will not be recognized by them.

 

114. Never compete. Every competition damages your reputation. Our rivals
seize occasion to obscure us so as to outshine us. Few wage honorable war.
Rivalry discloses faults that courtesy would hide. Many have lived in good
repute while they had no rivals. The heat of conflict revives and gives new
life to dead scandals, digging up long-buried skeletons. Competition begins
with belittling, and seeks aid anywhere it can, not only where it should. And
when the weapons of abuse do not effect their purpose, as often or mostly
happens, our opponents seek revenge and use them at least for beating away the
dust of oblivion from anything that is our discredit. People of goodwill are
always at peace, and those of good reputation and dignity are of goodwill.

 

115. Get used to the failings of those around you. Just as you would to an ugly
face. It is indispensable if they depend on you, or you on them. There are
wretched characters one cannot live with or without. Therefore clever folk get
used to them, as to ugly faces, so that they are not obliged to do so suddenly
under the pressure of necessity. At first they arouse disgust, but gradually
they lose this influence, and reflection provides for disgust puts up with it.

 

116. Only act with honorable people. You can trust them and they you. Their
honor is the best surety of their behavior even in misunderstandings, for they
always act according to their character. Hence it is better to have a dispute
with honorable people than to have a victory over dishonorable ones. You cannot
deal well with the ruined, for they have no hostages for rectitude. With them
there is no true friendship, and their agreements are not binding, however
stringent they may appear, because they have no feeling of honor. Never have
anything to do with such people, for if honor does not restrain them, virtue
will not, since honor is the throne of rectitude.

 

117. Never talk about yourself. To do so you must either praise yourself, which
is vain, or blame yourself, which is weak minded - it is unseemly for the
speaker and unpleasant for the listener. And if you should avoid this in
ordinary conversation, how much more so in official matters, and above all in
public speaking, where every mere appearance of unwisdom really is unwise. The
same want of tact lies in speaking of someone in his presence, owing to the
danger of going to one of two extremes: flattery or censure.

 

118. Acquire the reputation for courtesy. This is enough to make you liked.
Politeness is the main ingredient of culture - a kind of witchery that wins the
regard of all as surely as discourtesy gains their disfavor and opposition. If
this latter springs from pride it is abominable, if from bad breeding it is
despicable. Better too much courtesy than too little, provided it is not
indiscriminate, which degenerates into injustice. Between opponents it is of
special worth as a proof of valor. It costs little and helps much - everyone is
honored who gives honor. Politeness and honor have this advantage, that they
remain with him who displays them to others.

 

119. Avoid becoming disliked. There is no right occasion to seek dislike - it
comes without seeking soon enough. There are many who hate of their own accord
without knowing the why or the how. Their ill will outruns our readiness to
please. Their ill nature is more prone to do harm to others than their greed is
eager to gain advantage for themselves. Some manage to be on bad terms with
everyone because they always either produce or experience a vexation of spirit.
Once hate has taken root it is, like bad reputation, difficult to eradicate.
Wise people are feared, the malevolent are abhorred, the arrogant are regarded
with disdain, buffoons with contempt, eccentrics with neglect. Therefore pay
respect that you may be respected, and know that to be esteemed you must show
esteem.

 

120. Live practically. Even knowledge has to be in style, and where it is not
it is wise to affect ignorance. Thought and taste change with the times. Do
not be old fashioned in your ways of thinking and let your taste be modern. In
everything the taste of the many carries the day; for the time being one must
follow it in hope of leading it to higher things. In the adornment of the body,
as of the mind, adapt yourself to the present, even though the past appears
better. But this rule does not apply to kindness, for goodness is for all
times. It is neglected nowadays and seems out of date. Truthfulness, keeping
your word, and so too good people, seem to come from the good old days, yet they
are liked for all that, but even so if any exist they are not in fashion and are
not imitated. What a misfortune for our age that it regards virtue as a
stranger and vice as a matter of course! If you are wise live as you can, if
you cannot live as you would. Think more highly of what fate has given you than
of what it has denied.

 

121. Do not make much ado about nothing. As some make gossip out of everything,
so others make much ado of everything. They always talk big, take everything in
earnest and turn it into a dispute or a secret. Troublesome things must not be
taken too seriously if they can be avoided. It is preposterous to take to heart
that which you should just throw over your shoulders. Mush that would be
something has become nothing by being left alone, and what was nothing has
become of consequence by being made much of. At the outset things can be easily
settled, but not afterwards. Often the remedy causes the disease. It is by no
means the least of life's rules to let things alone.

 

122. Distinction in speech and action. By this you gain a position in many
places and win esteem in advance. It shows itself in everything, in talk, in
look, even in gait. It is a great victory to conquer people's hearts. It does
not arise from any foolish presumption or pompous talk, but in a becoming tone
of authority born of superior talent combined with true merit.

 

123. Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a
vulgar flavor to all. It is wearisome to others and troublesome to the one
affected, for he becomes a martyr to care and tortures himself with attention.
The most eminent merits lost most by it, for they appear proud and artificial
instead of being the product of nature, and the natural is always more pleasing
than the artificial. One always feels sure that the person who affects a virtue
has it not. The more pains you take with a thing, the more you should conceal
them, so that it may appear to arise spontaneously from your own natural
character. Do not, however, in avoiding affectation fall into it by affecting
to be unaffected. The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not
noticing them can you call others' attention to them. He is twice great who has
all the perfections in the opinion of all except of himself - he attains
applause by two opposite paths.

 

124. Make yourself sought after. Few reach such favor with the many, if with
the wise it is the height of happiness. When one has finished one's work,
coldness is the general rule. But there are ways of earning the reward of
goodwill. The sure way is to excel in your office and talents; add to this
agreeable manner and you reach the point where you become necessary to your
office, not your office to you. Some do honor to their post, with others it is
the other way around. It is no great gain if a poor successor makes the
predecessor seem good, for this does not imply that the one is missed, but that
the other is wished away.

 

125. Do not be a blacklister of other people's faults. It is a sign of having a
tarnished name to concern oneself with the ill fame of others. Some wish to
hide their own stains with those of others, or at least wash them away; or they
seek consolation therein - it is the consolation of fools. Their breath must
stink who form the sewers of scandal for the whole town. The more one grubs
about in such matters the more one befouls oneself. There are few without stain
somewhere or other. It is only of little known people that the failings are
little known. Be careful then to avoid being a registrar of faults. That is to
be an abominable thing, a man that lives without a heart.

 

126. Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it when
committed. You should keep your desires sealed up, still more your defects.
All go wrong sometimes, but the wise try to hide their errors while fools boast
of them. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is done; if a
man does not live chastely, he must live cautiously. The errors of great men
are like the eclipses of the greater lights. Even in friendship it is rare to
expose one's failings to one's friend. Nay, one should conceal them from
oneself if one can. But here one can help with that other great rule of life:
learn to forget.

 

127. Grace in everything. It is the life of talent, the breath of speech, the
soul of action, and the ornament or ornament. Perfections are the adornment of
our nature, but this is the adornment of perfection itself. It shows itself
even in the thoughts. It is mostly a gift of nature and owes least to education
- it even triumphs over training. It is more than ease, approaches the free and
easy, gets over embarrassment, and adds the finishing touch to perfection.
Without it beauty is lifeless, graciousness ungraceful. It surpasses valor,
discretion, prudence, even majesty itself. It is a shortcut to accomplishment
and an easy escape from embarrassment.

 

128. High-mindedness. This is one of the principal qualifications for a
gentleman, it spurs us on to all kinds of nobility. It improves the taste,
ennobles the heart, elevates the mind, refines the feelings, and intensifies
dignity. It raises him in whom it is found. At times it even remedies the bad
turns of fortune, which turns itself around because of envy. High-mindedness
can find full scope in the will when it cannot be exercised in act.
Magnanimity, generosity, and all heroic qualities recognize in it their source.

 

129. Never complain. To complain always brings discredit. Better to be a model
of self-reliance opposed to the passion of others than an object of their
compassion. For complaining opens the way for the hearer to act like those we
are complaining of, and to disclose one insult forms an excuse for another. By
complaining of past offenses we give occasion for future ones, and in seeking
aid or counsel we only obtain indifference or contempt. It is much more politic
to praise a person's favors, so that others may feel obliged to follow suit. To
recount the favors we owe the absent is to demand similar ones from those
present, and thus we sell our credit with the ones to the other. The shrewd
will therefore never publish to the world his failures or his defects, but only
those marks of consideration that serve to keep friendship alive and enmity
silent.

 

130. Do and be seen doing. Things do not pass for what they are but for what
they seem. To be of use and to know how to show it, is to be twice as useful.
What is not seen is as if it was not. Even the right does not receive proper
consideration if it does not seem right. The observant are far fewer in number
than those who are deceived by appearances. Deceit rules - things are judged by
their jackets and many things are other than they seem. But a good exterior is
the best recommendation of the inner perfection.

 

131. Nobility of feeling. There is a certain distinction of the soul, a high-
mindedness prompting to gallant acts, that gives an air of grace to the whole
character. It is not found often, for it presupposes great magnanimity. Its
chief characteristic is to speak well of an enemy and to act even better toward
him. It shines brightest when a chance comes for revenge; not alone does it let
the occasion pass but improves it by using a complete victory in order to
display unexpected generosity. It is a fine stroke of policy - no, the very
acme of statecraft. It makes no pretense to victory, for it pretends to
nothing, and while obtaining its deserts it conceals its merits.

 

132. Revise your judgements. To appeal to an inner court of revision makes
things safe. Especially when the course of action is not clear, you gain time
either to confirm or improve your decision. It affords new grounds for
strengthening or corroborating your judgement. And if it is a matter of giving,
the gift is the more valued from its being evidently well considered than for
being to promptly bestowed; long expected is highest prized. And if you have to
deny something, that gains you time to decide how and when to mature the
no so that it may be made palatable. Besides, after the first heat of
desire is passed the repulse of refusal is felt less keenly. But, especially
when people press for a reply, it is best to defer it, for as often as not that
is only a feint to disarm attention.

 

133. Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone. So say politicians.
If all are so, one is no worse off than the rest, whereas solitary wisdom passes
for folly. So important is it to sail with the stream. The greatest wisdom
often consists of ignorance, or the pretense of it. One has to live with
others, and others are mostly ignorant. "To live entirely alone one must be
very like a god or quite like a wild beast," But I would turn the aphorism by
saying: Better be wise with the many than a fool all alone. There be some too
who seek to be original by chasing chimeras.

 

134. Double your resources. You thereby double your life. One must not depend
on one thing or trust to only one resource, however preeminent. Everything
should be kept double, especially the causes of success, of favor, or of esteem.
The moon's mutability transcends everything and gives a limit to all existence,
especially of things dependent on human will - the most brittle of all things.
To guard against this inconstancy should be the sage's care, and for this the
chief rule of life is to keep a double store of good and useful qualities. Thus
as nature gives us in duplicate the most important of our limbs and those most
exposed to risk, so art should deal with the qualities on which we depend for
success.

 

135. Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction. It only proves you foolish or
peevish and prudence should guard against this strenuously. To find
difficulties in everything may prove you clever but such wrangling writes you
down as a fool. Such folk make a war out of the most pleasant conversation and
in this way act as enemies toward their associates rather than toward those with
whom they do not consort. Grit grates most in delicacies, and so does
contradiction in amusement. They are both foolish and cruel who yoke together
the wild beast and the tame.

 

136. Post yourself in the center of things. So you feel the pulse of affairs.
Many lose their way either in the ramifications of useless discussion or in the
brushwood of wearisome verbosity without ever realizing the real matter at hand.
They go over a single point a hundred times, wearing themselves and others, and
yet never touch the all important center of affairs. This comes from a
confusion of mind from which they cannot extricate themselves. They waste time
and patience on matters they should leave alone, and afterward there is no time
spared for what they have left alone.

 

137. The sage should be self-sufficient. He that was all in all to himself
carried all with him when he carried himself. If a universal friend can
represent us to Rome and the rest of the world, let a man be his own universal
friend, and then he is in a position to live alone. Whom could such a man want
if there is no clearer intellect or finer taste than his own? He would then
depend on himself alone, which is the highest happiness and like the Supreme
Being. He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in
much and like a god in everything.

 

138. The art of letting things alone. The more so the wilder the waves of
public or of private life. There are hurricanes in human affairs, tempests of
passion, when it is wise to retire to a harbor and ride it out at anchor.
Remedies often make diseases worse; in such cases one has to leave them to their
natural course and the moral influence of time. It takes a wise doctor to know
when not to prescribe, and at times the greater skill consists in not applying
remedies. The proper way to still the storms of the vulgar is to hold yourself
back and let them calm down by themselves. To give way now is to conquer by and
by. A fountain gets muddy with but little stirring up, and does not get clear
by our meddling with it but by our leaving it alone. The best remedy for
disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down.

 

139. Recognize unlucky days. They do exist. Nothing goes well on them, and
even though the game may be changed the bad luck remains. Two tries should be
enough to tell if one is in luck today or not. Everything is in process of
change, even the mind, and no one is always wise. Chance has something to say,
even how to write a good letter. All perfection turns on the times - even
beauty has it hours. Even wisdom fails at times by doing too much or too
little. To turn out well a thing must be done on its own day. This is why with
some people everything turns out ill, with others all goes well, even with less
trouble. They find everything ready, their wit prompt, their presiding genius
favorable, their lucky star on the rise. At such times one must seize the
occasion and not throw away the slightest chance. But a shrewd person will not
decide on a day's luck by a single piece of good or bad fortune, for the one may
be only a lucky chance and the other a slight annoyance.

 

140. Find the good in a thing at once. This is the advantage of good taste.
The bee goes to the honey for her comb, the serpent to the gall for its venom.
So with taste - some seek the good, others the ill. There is nothing that has
no good in it, especially in books, as giving food for thought. But many have
such a scent that amid a thousand excellences they fix upon a single defect, and
single it out for blame as if they were scavengers of people's hearts and minds.
So they draw up a balance sheet of defects, which does more credit to their bad
taste than to their intelligence. They lead a sad life, nourishing themselves
on bitters and fattening on garbage. They have the luckier taste who amid a
thousand defects seize upon a single beauty they may have hit upon by chance.

 

141. Do not listen to yourself. It is no use pleasing yourself if you do not
please others, and as a rule general contempt is the punishment for self-
satisfaction. The attention you pay to yourself you probably owe to others. To
speak and at the same time to listen to yourself cannot turn out well. If to
talk to oneself when alone is madness, it must be doubly unwise to listen to
oneself in the presence of others. It is a weakness of the great to talk with a
recurrent "As I was saying" and "What?," which bewilders their hearers. At
every sentence they look for applause or flattery, taxing the patience of the
wise. So too the pompous speak with an echo, and as their talk can only totter
on with the aid of stilts - at every word they need the support of a stupid
"Bravo!"

 

142. Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent has
anticipated you by taking the right one. You begin the fight already beaten and
must soon take to flight in disgrace. With bad weapons one can never win. It
was astute in the opponent to seize the better side first, it would be folly to
come lagging after with the worst. Such obstinacy, is more dangerous in actions
than in words, for action encounters more risk than talk. It is the common
failing of the obstinate that they lose the true by contradicting it, and the
useful by quarrelling with it. The sage never places himself on the side of
passion, but espouses the cause of right, either discovering it first or
improving it later. If the enemy is a fool, he will in such case turn round to
follow the opposite and worse way. Thus the only way to drive him from the
better course is to take it yourself, for his folly will cause him to desert it,
and his obstinacy be punished for so doing.

 

143. Never become paradoxical in order to avoid being trite. Both extremes
damage our reputation. Every undertaking that differs from the reasonable
approaches foolishness. The paradox is a cheat; it wins applause at first by
its novelty and piquancy, but afterwards it becomes discredited when the deceit
is foreseen and its emptiness becomes apparent. It is a species of jugglery,
and in political matters it would be the ruin of the state. Those who cannot or
dare not reach great deeds on the direct road of excellence go round by way of
paradox, admired by fools but making wise men true prophets. It demonstrates an
unbalanced judgement, and if it is not altogether based on the false, it is
certainly founded on the uncertain, and risks the weightier matters of life.

 

144. Begin with another's to end with your own. This is a politic means to your
own end. Even in heavenly matters Christian teachers lay stress on this holy
cunning. It is a weighty piece of dissimulation, for the foreseen advantages
serve as a lure to influence the other's will. His affair seems to be in train
when it is really only leading the way for your own. One should never advance
unless under cover, especially where the ground is dangerous. Likewise with
persons who always say no at first, it is useful to ward off this blow by
presenting your intent in such a way that the difficulty of conceding does not
occur to them. This advice belongs to the rule about second thoughts (maxim
13), which covers the most subtle maneuvers of life.

 

145. Do not show your wounded finger, for everything will knock up against it.
Do not complain about it, for malice always aims where weakness can be injured.
It is no use to be vexed; being the butt of the talk will only vex you the more.
Ill will searches for wounds to irritate, aims darts to try the temper, and
tries a thousand ways to sting to the quick. The wise never confess to being
hit, or disclose any evil, whether personal or hereditary. For even fate
sometimes likes to wound us where we are most tender. It always mortifies
wounded flesh. Never therefore disclose the source of pain or of joy, if you
wish the one to cease and the other to endure.

 

146. Look into the interior of things. Things are generally other than they
seem, and ignorance that never looks beneath the rind is disillusioned when you
show the kernel. Lies always come first, dragging fools along by their
irreparable vulgarity. Truth always lags last, limping along on the arm of
time. The wise therefore reserve for truth one of their ears, which their
common mother, nature, has wisely given in duplicate. Deceit is very
superficial, and the superficial therefore easily fall into it. Prudence lives
retired within its recesses, visited only by sages and wise men.

 

147. Do not be inaccessible. None is so perfect that he does not need at times
the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who will never listen to
anyone. Even the most surpassing intellect should find a place for friendly
counsel. Sovereignty itself must learn to lean. There are some that are
incorrigible simply because they are inaccessible. They fall to ruin because
none dares to extricate them. The highest should have the door open for
friendship; it may prove the gate of help. A friend must be free to advise, and
even to upbraid, without feeling embarrassed. Our satisfaction in him and our
trust in his steadfast faith give him that power. One need not pay respect or
give credit to everyone, but in the innermost sanctum of his caution a person
must have the true mirror of a confidant to whom he owes the correction of his
errors, and has to thank for it.

 

148. Have the art of conversation. That is where the real personality shows
itself. No act requires more attention, thought it be the most common thing in
life. You must either lose or gain by it. If it takes care to write a letter,
which is but a deliberate and written conversation, how much more so the
ordinary kind in which there is occasion for a prompt display of intelligence?
Experts feel the pulse of the soul in the tongue, which is why the sage said,
"Speak, that I may know thee." Some hold that the art of conversation is to be
without art - that it should be neat, not gaudy, like clothing. This holds good
for talk between friends. But when held with persons to whom one would show
respect, it should be more dignified to answer to the dignity of the person
addressed. To be appropriate it should adapt itself to the mind and tone of
others. And do not be a critic of words, or you will be taken for a pedant; nor
a tax-gatherer of ideas, or people will avoid you, or at least sell their
thoughts dear. In conversation discretion is more important than eloquence.

 

149. Know how to put off ills on others. To have a shield against ill will is a
great piece of skill in a ruler. It is not the resort of incapacity, as ill-
wishers imagine, but is due to the higher policy of having someone to receive
the censure of the disaffected and the punishment of universal dislike.
Everything cannot turn out well, therefore, even at the cost of our pride, to
have such a scapegoat, a target for unlucky undertakings.

 

150. Know how to get your price for things. Their intrinsic value is not
sufficient, for not everyone bites at the essence or look