39 quotes
Not believing others implies that you yourself are deceitful. The liar suffers twice: he neither believes nor is believed.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
All victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Many owe their greatness to their enemies. Flattery is fiercer than hatred, for hatred corrects the faults flattery had disguised.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
The wise person finds enemies more useful than the fool does friends.
An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Only Virtue is sufficient unto herself. She makes us love the living and remember the dead.
Trust the friends of today as though they will be the enemies of tomorrow.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Spiritual deformity is worse than bodily deformity, for it contradicts a superior beauty.
To hear a prince's secrets is not a privilege but a burden. Many smash the mirror that reminds them of their ugliness. They cannot stand to see those who saw them.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Virtue alone is for real; all else is sham. Talent and greatness depend on virtue, not on fortune. Only virtue is sufficient unto herself. She makes us love the living and remember the dead.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
It is more offensive to outshine in dignity than in personal attractions.
Freedom is more precious than the gift that makes us lose it.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Readiness is the mother of luck.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
You can never tell the wise by what they say in public. They speak not in their own voices, but in that of common stupidity, though deep inside they are cursing it.
Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Self-correction begins with self-knowledge.
Many pleasant things are better when they belong to someone else. ... When things belong to others, we enjoy them twice as much, without the risk of losing them, and with the pleasure of novelty.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
The right kind of leisure is better than the wrong kind of work.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would. This rule does not hold true for bad things: when an evil has been exaggerated, its reality makes people applaud. What was feared as ruinous comes to seem tolerable.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)