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.
Original text (Spanish)
Original text (Spanish)
The one rule for pleasing: whet the appetite, keep people hungry.
If you cannot make knowledge your servant, make it your friend.
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.