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An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.

— Baltasar Gracián The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

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More quotes by Baltasar Gracián

Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

The one rule for pleasing: whet the appetite, keep people hungry.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

If you cannot make knowledge your servant, make it your friend.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

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Each of these private teachers who work for pay ... inculcates nothing else than these opinions of the multitude which they opine when they are assembled and calls this knowledge wisdom.

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Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.

Wilhelm Reich Philosophy : An Introduction to the Art of Wondering (2005)

Innocence in genius, and candor in power, are both noble qualities.

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël De l’Allemagne [Germany (1813)

Like every 'intellectual', a philosophy teacher is a petty bourgeois. When he opens his mouth, it is petty-bourgeois ideology that speaks: its resources and ruses are infinite.

Louis Althusser Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (1968)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Baltasar Gracián (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.