"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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
From "The Art of Worldly Wisdom"
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