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The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian · Philosophy Library

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  Speaker 1: Section one to Missus G. H.
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  Speaker 2: Lewis.
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  Speaker 1: Dear Missus Lewis, this little book were not worthy of
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  Speaker 1: being associated with your name? Did it not offer an
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  Speaker 1: ideal of life? At once refined and practical, cultured yet
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  Speaker 1: wisely energetic. Gracian points to noble aims and proposes on
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  Speaker 1: the whole no ignoble means of attaining to them. The
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  Speaker 1: Spanish Jesuit seas clear, but he looks upward. There is, however,
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  Speaker 1: one side of life to which he is entirely blind,
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  Speaker 1: As was perhaps natural in an ecclesiastic writing before the
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  Speaker 1: Age of Salence, he nowhere makes mention in his pages
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  Speaker 1: of the gracious influence of woman as Inspirer and Consola
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  Speaker 1: in the battle of life. Permit me to repair this
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  Speaker 1: omission by placing your name in the forefront of this
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  Speaker 1: English version of his maxims to those honored with your friendship.
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  Speaker 1: This will by itself suffice to recall all the ennobling
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  Speaker 1: associations connected with your sex. Believe me, dear Missus Lewis,
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  Speaker 1: your most sincerely, Joseph Jacobs Kilburn, twenty sixth of October
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety two. Preface. My attention was first drawn to
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  Speaker 1: the Oraculo Manuel by mister now Sir Montstuart grand Douff's
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  Speaker 1: admirable article on Baltazra Gracian in the Fortnightly Review of
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  Speaker 1: March eighteen seventy seven. I soon after obtained the copy
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  Speaker 1: of Schopenhauer's excellent version, and during a journey in Spain,
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  Speaker 1: I procured with some difficulty a villainously printed edition of
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  Speaker 1: Gathian's work Barcelona, seventeen thirty four Poor Joseph Giralt, which
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  Speaker 1: contains the Oraculo Manuel. Towards the end of the first volume,
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  Speaker 1: pages four hundred thirty one to four hundred ninety four.
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  Speaker 1: I have translated from this last, referring in the many
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  Speaker 1: doubtful places of its text, to the first Madrid edition
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  Speaker 1: of sixteen fifty three, the earliest in the British museum.
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  Speaker 1: I have threw out had Schopenhauer's version by my side,
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  Speaker 1: and have found it, as Sir Montstuart grand Duff says,
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  Speaker 1: a most finished piece of work. Though I have pointed
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  Speaker 1: out in the notes a few cases where he has failed,
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  Speaker 1: in my opinion, to give Gracian's meaning completely or correctly,
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  Speaker 1: I have little doubt that I am a Fellow's sinner.
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  Speaker 1: In this regard, I know no prose style that offers
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  Speaker 1: such difficulty to a translator as Gracian's laconic and artificial epigrams.
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  Speaker 1: It is not without reason that he has been called
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  Speaker 1: the introducible. The two earlier English versions miss his points
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  Speaker 1: time after time, and I found it useless to refer
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  Speaker 1: to them. On the other hand, I have ventured to
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  Speaker 1: adopt some of Sir Mountstuart grand Dove's often very happy
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  Speaker 1: renderings in the extracts contained in his Fortnightly article. I
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  Speaker 1: have endeavored to reproduce Gracian's laconism and cultismo in my version,
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  Speaker 1: and have even and try to retain his many paronomasias
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  Speaker 1: and jingles of similar sound. I may have here and
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  Speaker 1: there introduced others of my own to redress the balance
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  Speaker 1: for cases where I found it impossible to produce the
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  Speaker 1: same effect in English. In such cases I generally give
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  Speaker 1: the original in the notes. Wherever possible, I have replaced
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  Speaker 1: Spanish proverbs and proverbial phrases by English ones, and have
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  Speaker 1: throughout try to preserve the characteristic rhythm and brevity of
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  Speaker 1: the proverb. In short, if I may venture to say so,
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  Speaker 1: I have approached my task rather in the spirit of
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  Speaker 1: Fitzgerald than of Bonn. The gem on the title, representing
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  Speaker 1: a votive offering to Hermes, the god of worldly wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: is from a fine paste in the British Museum of
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  Speaker 1: the best period of Greek glyptic art. I have to
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  Speaker 1: thank mister Cecil Smith of that institution for kind advice
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  Speaker 1: in the selection. Let me conclude these prefatory words with
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  Speaker 1: a piece of advice as oracular as my original. When
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  Speaker 1: reading this little book for the first time, read only
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  Speaker 1: fifteen maxims and then stop for the day. Joseph Jacobs
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  Speaker 1: testimonia ile siqunci sir rompeu a si a trenemont coupe
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  Speaker 1: kill somble quille prid obscurity attache or see the lecteur
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  Speaker 1: abezouan do'n Dovini les sance a sauvan conti la conprix
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  Speaker 1: in truth killed settudier a ferrini enigmer junuschous four commune
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  Speaker 1: f Van Allison's Voyage de Spine sixteen sixty seven, page
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  Speaker 1: two hundred ninety four ilabu cou de l vasion, the
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  Speaker 1: sup tilte the fox a meme de bonsence messonseill le
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  Speaker 1: peu sauvant se quill verdir an les se papo tetroi
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  Speaker 1: meme cakexandresesuvrages nensemble e trefe capour neetropin entendu bourus entretien
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  Speaker 1: artiste du gene sixt Deen, seventy one, page two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and three. Louisa de Padilla, a lady of great learning
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  Speaker 1: and Countess of Aranda, was in like manner angry with
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  Speaker 1: the famous Gracian upon his publishing his Treatise of the Discreto,
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  Speaker 1: wherein she fancied that he had laid open those maxims
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  Speaker 1: to common readers which ought only to be reserved for
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  Speaker 1: the knowledge of the great. These objections are thought by
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: many of so much weight that they often defend the
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  Speaker 1: above mentioned authors by affirming they have affected such an
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  Speaker 1: obscurity in their style and manner of writing, that though
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  Speaker 1: every one may read their works, there will be but
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  Speaker 1: very few who can comprehend their meaning. The Spectator number
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  Speaker 1: three hundred seventy nine, seventeen twelve. Moncherjean to jour lenergi
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  Speaker 1: i is sublim ildo villenou trees is per don li
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: moud Gracian eu bu noradist sirc don Quixote, etouvre eru
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  Speaker 1: il jen la ilutre and fau er de grandeur quion
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: MPOs ussou Ekiferiri lesage Abbe de Fontaine, seventeen forty five,
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  Speaker 1: k de elios no s deben, Alaoto del Criticon and
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Medio Rella's antithesis, Paranomasias eTOD a, lamitria, culta es una
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  Speaker 1: delas obras mast recommend doubles, the Nuestraliteratura Paula Felicidad de
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  Speaker 1: la invencion, la inagotable Riqueza, the Imaginacion ide Sales Paula
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Viveda de Supinturas, Ippola, Gracia, Sultura in naturalidad, Tellestillo, don
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Manuel Silvera Biblioteca Selecta de Literatura Espaniola eighteen nineteen, Siubies
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  Speaker 1: Gracian Procedido conmas soobridad and el uzo de estus reegos, econceptos,
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  Speaker 1: chules e escrito de su tiempo, The Tantos daughters icaodal nativo,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: parace re mas freconoire, gante sabiendo commolo manifesto and don
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: de estavan las di dicatellas ILOs donaires Estuez, loa Margo, Lodulce, Lopigante,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Losalado de la la Gua Castellana, donn Donio Camani, Diatro
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: de la la Cuentia Espanola, Tom Musinko. The Oraculo Manual
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  Speaker 1: has been more use than any other of the author's works.
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  Speaker 1: It is intended to be a collection of maxims of
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  Speaker 1: general utility, but it exhibits good and bad precepts, sound judgments,
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  Speaker 1: and refined sophisms, all confounded together. In this work, Gracian
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  Speaker 1: has not forgotten to inculcate his practical principles of Jesuitism
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  Speaker 1: to be all things to all men hatherse a tordos,
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  Speaker 1: nor to recommend his favorite maxim to be common in
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  Speaker 1: nothing and nada vulgar, which in order to be valid,
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  Speaker 1: would require totally different interpretation from that which he has
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: given it Boutak. The person, however, who settled the character
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: of Curtismo, and in some respects gave it an air
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  Speaker 1: of philosophical pretension, was Baltazar Gracian, a Jesuit of Aragon
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: who lived between sixteen o one and sixteen fifty eight,
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  Speaker 1: exactly the period when the cultivated style took possession of
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  Speaker 1: Spanish prose and rose to its greatest consideration. G. Tigno
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: History of Spanish Literature, three, two hundred and twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: Dabai istez does ein segezana art on nie and andros
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  Speaker 1: ubertin zelbeen gigstant dishrieben worden the nua an individum o
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  Speaker 1: ste feinsten aller natziunen the spanishen comtes fezuren daseelbelieti kunst
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: dera ale jishbe flisigen udsta he fu jidaman bazuonda's aba
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: is the ska eignet das han pur alla de rad
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: suwarden diende grussenleben gunsford zugliche aba juma loiter die gluptarin
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: sumaran bu mutzind untin nesmidt einemal und four hours debil
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: erung gift disizd airs to islanga afa harrltan Alschoppenhauer. Later
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  Speaker 1: Rational Notice for the Eubazet Song eighteen thirty one, published
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one. A reg book would have spread and
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  Speaker 1: struction with a facility in arien produi kipis o geordie
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  Speaker 1: sut near lexamand la critique la plus and partial puibusque
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  Speaker 1: istraas comparede Literaturio Espanol Francais, eighteen forty three, one page
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  Speaker 1: five hundred and fifty nine. Glassian reputed ran excellent equiva,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: snavepa ulu dovnir r an eikleiva extraordinaire, duade in vast
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  Speaker 1: eruditionion venees prifa, tantalon, profon topseracion elate, nepo, cleresan siecle
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: melvanite de deveni novata corum pi songou on le portin
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: and roduer don la prose selon gage precieux ces expression
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: alambique ke gongora ave and trodide don le vere at
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  Speaker 1: tobacca BiblioTech diziquivant la compagiu eighteen sixty nine, s V.
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  Speaker 1: Cascian A si comolas maximas de antonio perez ferron mui
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: popolares and cortesanos or doctors or eostrados asi espanoles como estranieros,
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  Speaker 1: poe quella delicatella, espercial de estiro las del pare barta
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: dargacian alcantaron la misma estima poet attil damiento and eldesier,
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  Speaker 1: attil damiento, kitana and si on inexplicably attractivo, iquian ca
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  Speaker 1: algo partisipabac tel general, Cuteranismo, telaaliteratura Espaniola and aquel sigro
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  Speaker 1: and sera baciato, buen gusto de zlombrador, elison, hero para lector,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: case profun disimos, contractos pressI abaconnafuersa tesuin regno aquellos, Donaldolfo
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  Speaker 1: de Castro, Obras escochidas de Philosophia, eighteen seventy three, page
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  Speaker 1: one hundred eight. Taking the book as a guide, especially
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: for those who intend to enter public life, I have
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  Speaker 1: never chanced to meet with anything which seemed to me
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  Speaker 1: even distantly to approach it. It would possibly be rather
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  Speaker 1: difficult to disprove the thesis that the Spanish nation has
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  Speaker 1: produced the best maxims of practical wisdom, the best proverb,
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  Speaker 1: the best epitaph, and the best motto in the world.
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  Speaker 1: If I had to sustain it, I would point, with
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  Speaker 1: reference to the first head to the oraquolo.
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  Speaker 2: Manuel Sir m E.
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  Speaker 1: Grand duff On Baltazar Grascian in Fortnightly Review, March eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy seven. Some have found light in the sayings of
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  Speaker 1: Baltazar Gracian, a Spaniard who flourished at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the seventeenth century. I do not myself Frank Garcian much
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: of a companion, though some of his avorisms give a
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  Speaker 1: knee turn to a commonplace. J. Morley on Aphorism Studies,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety one, page eighty six, end of section one.
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  Speaker 3: Introduction one of Balthazar Gracian and his works. We may
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  Speaker 3: certainly say of Gracian what Hine, by an amiable fiction,
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  Speaker 3: said of himself. He was one of the first men
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  Speaker 3: of his century. For he was born on the eighth
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  Speaker 3: of January sixteen o one n s at Belmont, a
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  Speaker 3: suburb of Calataioude in the Kingdom of Aragon. Calataioude properly
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: calat ayoub job'stown is nearly on the site of the
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: ancient Bilbilis Marcial's birthplace. As its name indicates, it was
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: one of the Moorish settlements and nearly one of the
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  Speaker 3: most northern. By Grathian's time, it had again been Christian
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: and Spanish for many generations, and Carathian himself was of
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  Speaker 3: noble birth. For a Spaniard of noble birth, only two
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: careers were open arms and church. In the seventeenth century,
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: arms had yielded to the Cassock and Balthozar and his
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: three brothers all took orders. Philippi, his eldest, joined the
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Order of Saint Francis, the next brother, Pedro, became a
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  Speaker 3: Trinitarian during his short life, and the third, Raimundo, became
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  Speaker 3: a Calmelite. Barthoza himself tells us Agudeza Chapter twenty five
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  Speaker 3: that he was brought up in the house of his uncle,
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: the Licentiate Antonio Grathian, at Toledo, from which we may
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  Speaker 3: gather that both his father and his mother, ir Morales,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: died in his early youth. He joined the Company of
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Jesus in sixteen nineteen, when in its most flourishing state,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: after the organizing genius of Aquaviva had given solid form
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: to the bold counterstroke of Loyola to the Protestant Revolution,
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: the Razzio Stuayorum was just coming into full force, and
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: Carthian was one of the earliest men in Europe to
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  Speaker 3: be educated on the system which has dominated the seas
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: secondary education of Europe almost down to our own days.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: This point is of some importance we shall see in
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  Speaker 3: considering Gracian's chief work. Once enrolled among the ranks of
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  Speaker 3: the Jesuits, the individual disappears. The Jesuit alone remains. There
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: is scarcely anything to record of Gracian's life, except that
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: he was a Jesuit and engaged in teaching what passes
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: with the Order for philosophy and sacred literature, and became
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: ultimately rector of the Jesuit college at Tarragona. His great
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: friend was Don Vincentio Juan de Lastanosa at de Lettante
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: of the period, who lived at Uesca and collected coins, medals,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: and other archeological bric a. Brac Gracian appears to have
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: shared his tastes for Loastanoza mentions him in his description
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: of his own cabinet. A long correspondence with him was
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: once extant, and seen by Latassa, who gives the dates
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: and places where the letters were written. From these, it
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: would seem that Grathian moved about considerably from Madrid to Saragossa,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: and thence to Tarragona. From another source we learned that
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Philip the Third often had him to dinner to provide
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: ettic salt to the royal table. He preached, and his
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: sermons were popular. In short, a life of prudent prosperity
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: came to an end when Baltho Zagrathian, rector of the
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Jesuit College at Tarragona, died there on the sixth of
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: December sixteen fifty eight, at the age of nearly fifty eight. Years.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Of Carathian's works, there is perhaps more to say, even
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: while leaving for separate consideration, that one which is here
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: presented to the English reader and forms his chief claim
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: to attention. Spanish literature was passing into its period of Swega,
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: a period that came to all literatures of modern Europe
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: after the training in classics had given a fresh dessense
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: of style. The characteristic of this period in the literature
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: is suitably a nun of the appearance of conceits or
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: elaborate and far fetched figures of speech. The process began
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: with Antonio Guevara, author of a Libro aureo, from which,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: according to some, the English form of the disease known
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: as euphuism was derived. But it received a further impetus
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: from the success of the stilo culto of Gongora. In poetry,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Gongorism drove conceit to its farthest point. Artificiality of diction
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: could go no farther in verse. It was only left
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: for Grathian to apply to prose. He did this for
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: the first time in sixteen thirty in his first work
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: and Ere. This was published, like most of his other works,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: by his lifelong friend Lastanoza, and under the name of
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Lorenzo Grathian, a suppositious brother of Grathian's, who, so far
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: as can be ascertained, never existed. The whole of Elerue
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: exists in shortening form in the Oraculu Manual. The form, however,
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: is so shortened that it would be difficult to recognize
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: the original primores as they are called of Eleroe. Yet
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: it is precisely in the curtainness of the sentences that
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: the peculiarity of the steel or culto consists. Generally, elaborate
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: metaphor and far fetched allusions go with long and involved
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: sentences of the periodic type. But with Carthian the aim
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: is as much towards shortness as towards elaboration. The embroidery
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: is rich but the jacket is short, as he himself
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: might have said. As for the subject matter, the extracts
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: in the Oracolo will suffice to give some notion of
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: the lofty ideal or character presented in Elliroe, the ideal
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: indeed associated in the popular mind with the term Hidalgo.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: A later book, El Discreto, first published in sixteen forty seven,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: gives the counterpoise to l Are by drawing an ideal
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: of the prudent courtier as contrasted with the proud and
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: spotless Idalgo. This too is fully represented in the book
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: before us, but a curtlement is still more marked than
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: in the case of Eliroe. There is evidence that Grathian
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: wrote a similar pair of contrasts, termed, respectively, El Galante
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: and El varon Artento, which were not published, but were
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: incorporated in the Oraculo Manual by Lastanoza. The consequences of
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: this utilization of contrasts will concern us later, reverting to
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Grathian's works somewhat more in their order. His eloge of Ferdinand,
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: the magus of Columbus's epoch, need not much detain us.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: It is stilted and conventional, and does not betray much
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: historical insight. Grathian's Agudeza Ialte di Ingenio is of more
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: importance and interest as the formal exposition of the critical
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: principles of cultismo. It is concerned more with verse than prose,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: and represents the poetics of Gongorism. A curious collection of
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: flowers of rhetoric in Spanish verse could be made from it.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Of still more restricted interest is the Cormulgadur or Sacred
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Meditations for Holy Communion. I do not profess to be
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: a judge of this class of literature, if literature it
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: can be called, but the fact that the book was
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: deemed worthy of an English translation as lately as sixteen
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: seventy six seems to show that it still answers the
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: devotional needs of the Catholics. It has a personal interest
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: for Grathian, as it was the only book office that
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: appeared under his own name. There remains only to be
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: considered besides the Oracuolo manoal Grathian's El Criticon, a work
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: of considerable value and at least historic interest, which appeared
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: in the three parts dealing with youth, maturity, and old age, respectively,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: during the years sixteen fifty to fifty three. This is
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: a kind of philosophic romance or allegory depicting the education
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: of the human soul. A Spaniard named Critilo is wrecked
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: on Saint Helena and there finds a sort of man, Friday,
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: whom he calls Andreno Andregno. After learning to communicate with
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Critillo gives him a highly elaborate autobiography of his soul
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: from the age of three days or so. They then
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: travel to Spain, where they meet truth valor Falsehood and
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: other allegorical females and males who are labeled by Critillo
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: for Andrino's benefit in the approved and frigid style of
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: the allegorical teacher. Incidentally, however, the ideals and aspirations of
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the Spaniard of the seventeenth century are brought out, and
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: from this point of view the book derives the parallel
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: with the Pilgrim's Progress which Tickner had made for it.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: It is certainly one of the most characteristic products of
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Spanish literature, both for style and subject matter. Nearly all
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: these works of Grathian were translated into most of the
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: cultured languages of Europe. English not accepted part of This
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: ecumenical fame was doubtless due to the fact that Carthian
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: was a Jesuit and brethren of his order, translated to
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: works of one of whom the order was justly proud.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: But this explanation can not altogether account for the wide
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: spread of Carthian's works, and there remains a deposit of
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: genuine ability and literary skill involved in most of the
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: works I have briefly referred to, ability and skill of
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: an entirely obsolete kind nowadays, but holding a rank of
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: their own in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when didacticism
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: was all the rage. It is noteworthy that the testimonia
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: I have collected, for the most part pass over the Oraculo,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: the only work at which a modern would care to
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: cast a second glance and go into raptures over elcriticon
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: and its fellows, or the reverse of raptures on Grathian's style,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: which after all was the most striking thing about his works.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: That style reaches its greatest perfection in the Oraculo manoal
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: to which we might at once turn, but for a
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: preliminary inquiry, which it seems worth while to make. It
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: is a book of maxims as distinguished from a book
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: of aphorisms, and it is worth while, for several reasons
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: inquiring into maxims in general and maxim literature in particular,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: before dealing with what is probably the most remarkable specimen
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: of its class. Before, however, doing this, we may close
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: this section of our introductory remarks by putting in, as
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: the lawyers say, the Latin inscription given by Latassa, from
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: the foot of the portrait of Grathian, which one stood
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: in the Jesuit college at Calatayute, a portrait of which
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: alas no trace can now be found. The lines sum
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: up in sufficiently forcible Latin all that need be known
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: of Baltada Grassian and his works pey Baltazar Grassian uttiam
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: ab ortu emineret in bellomontenatus est prope bilbilim confenis martialis
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: patria proximus inguineo would profounderette artuc christianas argutias bilbilis kuaipoini
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: exhaustan videbatur in ethnicis ergo augenst natale ingenium in nato
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: acumine scripts it artem ingeni at artefacid scibile called scibiles,
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: phakid arts scripts it item artem prudentie at asse ipso
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: artem dedicit scripsid oraculum at vocus suez protulids scripsid desertum
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: would say ipsum describreate at utscribret eroem eroica patravit heck
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: et alia a scripta mocenates riguez haburund eudicus admirazionem lectora mundum,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: tipographum eternitatem filippus tres seppe ilius, argutias, interprandium versabad nedifigran
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: sales reghiz dapibus, said kuiplausus exitavorat calamo, diditus misionibus exitavid
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: planctus verbo exitaturus, desiderium in morte coarraptus fluid sexe de
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: cambris arnaud mile sexaginta, quinquaginta octo, said aliquando extintus eternum
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: lookipit two of maxims. Many men have sought to give
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: their views about men and about life in a pithy way.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: A few have tried to advise men in short sentences
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: what to do in the various emergencies of life. The
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: former have written aphorisms the latter maxims. Where the aphorism
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: states a fact of human nature. A maxim advises a
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: certain cause of action. The aphorism is written in the indicative,
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: the maxim in an imperative mood. Life is interesting if
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: not happy is an aphorism of Professor Sili's I believe
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: as send a step to choose a friend, these send
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: a step to choose a wife is a maxim of Rabbimir,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: one of the doctors of the Talmud. Now it is
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: indeed curious how few maxims have ever been written. Wisdom
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: has been extold on the housetops, but her practical advice
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: seems to have been kept secret. Taking our own literature,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: there are extremely few books of practical maxims, and not
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: the single one of any great merit. Sir Walter Raleigh's
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Cabinet Council, Penn's Maxims, and Chesterfield's Letters almost exhaust the list,
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: and the last generally contains much more than mere maxims.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: Nor are they scattered with any profusion Through books scheeming
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: with knowledge of life, the galaxy of English novels during
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: recent years, extracts of their beauties have been published in
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: some profusion. Wit and wisdom of Beacon's field. Wise, witty
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: and tender sayings of George Elliot extracts from Thackeray and
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: the rest, But the crop of practical maxims to be
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: found among them is extremely scanty. Aphorisms there are in plenty,
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: especially in George Elliot, But he that is doubtful what
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: course to pursue in any weighty crisis, would woefully waste
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: his time if he sought for advice from the novelists.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Nor are the moralists more instructive in disregard. Bacon's essays
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: leave with one the impression of fullness of practical wisdom,
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: Yet closely examined there is very little residue of practical
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: advice left in his pregnant sayings. Even the source of
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: most of this kind of writing, the Biblical Book of Proverbs,
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: fails to answer the particular kind of test I am
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: at present applying. However shrewd some of them are are
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: startling us with the consciousness how little human nature has changed.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: It is knowledge of human nature that they mainly supply.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: When we ask for instruction how to apply that knowledge,
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: we only get variations of the theme fear the Lord.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Two thousand years of experience have indeed shown that the
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: fear or love of the Lord forms a very good
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: foundation for practical wisdom. But it has to be supplemented
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: by some such corollary as keep your powder dry, before
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: it becomes of direct service in the conduct of life.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: It is indeed, because of the unpractical nature of practical
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: maxims that they have been so much neglected. You must
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: act in the concrete. You can only maximize in general terms.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Then again, maxims can only appeal to the mind. To
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: the intellect. The motive force of action is the will
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: the temperament. As Disraeli put it, the conduct of men
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: depends on the temperament, not upon a bond of musty
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: maxims Henrietta Temple. It is only very distantly that a
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: maxim constirred a vague desire that spurs an imitative will.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: True at times we read of man whose whole life
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: has been colored by a single saying, but these have
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: generally been more appeals to the imagination, like Newman's Securus
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: judicat orbesterarum, or the heu fuge kurude la s terras
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: fugelitus avarum, which had so decisive an effort on Savonarola's life.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: It is rare, indeed, that a man's whole life is
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: tinged by a single practical maxim, like Sir Daniel Gooch,
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: who was influenced by his father's advice stick to one thing.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Perhaps one of the reasons that have led literary persons
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: to neglect the maxim as a literary form has been
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: their own ignorance of action, and still more, their exaggerated
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: notions of its difficulties and complexities. Affairs are not conducted
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: by aphorisms. War is waged by a different kind of
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: maxims from those we are considering. Yet, after all, there
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: must be some general principles on which actions should be conducted,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: and one would think they could be determined. Probably the
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: successful men of action are not sufficiently self observant to
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: know exactly on what their success depends, and if they did,
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: they would in most cases try to keep it in
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: the family, like their wealth or their trade secrets. And
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: perhaps after all they are right who declare that action
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: has little to do with intellect and much with character.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: To say the truth, one is not impressed with the
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: intellectual powers of the millionaires. One meets the shadiest of
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: journalists could often explain their own doings with more point
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: than they Yet there are surely intellectual qualifications required for affairs.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: The Zuetz Canal must have required as grade an amount
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: of research, emendation, sense of order and organization, as say
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: the Corpus Inscriptionum latin arum. But there is no such
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: punishment for slovenly scholarship in action as there is in letters.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: The Suez Canal can be dug only once. Lucretius or
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Latin inscriptions can be edited over and over again Altogether.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: We need not be surprised if the men of action
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: cannot put the principles of action into pointed sentences or maxims.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: And if men of action cannot, it is not surprising
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: that men of letters do not, for they cannot have
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: the interest in action and its rewards which is required
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: for worldly success, or else they would not be able
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: to concentrate their thoughts on things which they consider of
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: higher import. To a man of letters, the world is
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: the devil, or ought to be. If he is to
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: have the touch of idealism, which gives color and weight
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: to his words, how then is he to devote his
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: attention to worldly wisdom and the maxims that are to
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: teach it. It is characteristic in this connection that the
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: weightiest writer of maxims in our language is Bacon, who
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: attempted to combine a career of affairs and of thought,
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: and spoiled both by so doing. It is perhaps due
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: to the subtle and all embracing influence of Christianity on
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: modern civilization that this divorce between idealism and the world
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: has come about. The strenuous opposition to the world among
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: earnest Christians has led to their practical withdrawal from it.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Just as the celibacy of the clergy meant that the
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: next generation was to be deprived of the hereditary influence
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: of some of the purest spirits of the time, so
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: the opposition of Christianity to the world has brought it
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: about that the world has been un Christian. Only one
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: serious attempt has been made to bridge the chasm. The
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: eyde mer of Jesuitism was to make the world Christian
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: by Christians becoming worldly. It was doubtless due to the
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: reaction against the over spiritualization of Christianity pressed by the
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: Protestant Reformation, but its practical result has been to make
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: the Jesuit a worldly Christian. The control of the higher
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: education of Europe by the Jesuits had tended, on the
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: other hand, to make society more Christian. If, then we
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: were to look for an adequate presentation of worldly wisdom,
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: touched with sufficient idealism to make it worthy of a
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: man of letters, we should look for it from a Jesuit,
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: or from one trained among the Jesuits. After all this
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: elaborate explanation, why so few maxims have been composed, it
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: may seem contradictory to give as a further and final reason,
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: because so many exist under another form. For what other
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: majority of proverbs but maxims under another name, or other
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: maxims without the name of their author. We say of proverbs,
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: indeed that they arise among the people. But it is
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: one definite individual among the people that gives them the
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: piquant form that makes them proverb. It was, we may
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: be sure, a definite English gepher who first said penny wise,
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: pound foolish. If we knew his name, we should call
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: it a maxim. As his name is unknown, it ranks
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: as a proverb. In this connection. The Talmudic proverbs and
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: maxims are of great interest, owing to the worthy rabbinic
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: principle say a thing in the name of the man
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: who said it. We can in almost all cases trace
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: Talmudic proverbs to their authors, or, in other words, Talmudic
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: proverbs remain maxims. There is only one analogous case in English,
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: A few of Benjamin Franklin's maxims e g. Three removes
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: are as good as a fire have become proverbs. The
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: abundance of proverbs is extraordinary. There is a whole bibliography
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: devoted to the literature of proverbs Duplace Bibliography Paleimologic Paris,
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: eighteen forty seven. And this needs now is a supplement
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: as large again as the original, partly supplied by the
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: bibliographical appendix of Hella al spanishu Shpritschwerte, eighteen eighty three. Indeed,
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: in the multitude of proverbs consists the greatest proof of
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: their uselessness as guides of action, for by this means
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: we get proverbs at cross purposes. Thus, take the one
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: I have just referred to penny wise, pound foolish, which
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: has a variant in the proverb do not spoil the
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: ship for a haporth of tar. A man who was
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: hesitating as to the amount or expense he would incur
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: in any undertaking would be prompted by these sayings to
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: be lavish. But then, how about the proverb take care
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Between the two proverbs, he would come to the ground.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: And if he has the news to decide between them,
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: he does not need the proverbs at all. Hence, it
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: is perhaps that the nation that is richest in proverbs
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: is the one that has proved itself Among European peoples
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: the least wise in action to the Spaniards has been
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: well applied to witticism about Charles the Second. They never
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: said a foolish thing and never did a wise one. Certainly,
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: if proverbs be a proof of wisdom, the Spaniards have
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: given proofs in abundance. Don Quixote is full of them,
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: and the Spanish collections are extraordinarily rich. Now, the nation
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: that can produce good proverbs should be able to produce
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: good maxims. Hence we should expect the best book of
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: maxims to emanate from a Spaniard. One characteristic of both
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: these forms of practical wisdom is their artificiality. One has
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: to think twice before the point of a proverb or
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: a Maxim is perfectly clear. The early bird catches the
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: worm seems at first sight as meaningless a proposition as
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: there are milestones on the dover road. Hence, it is
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: when the literature is passing through its artificial stage that
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: Maxims would naturally appear, so that it was clearly preordained
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: that when the Book of Maxims should appear, it would
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: be by a Jesuit so as to be worldly yet
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: not too worldly, by a Spaniard so that it should
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: have the proverbial ring, and during the prevalence of curtismo,
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: so that it should have the quaintness to attract attention
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: three of the Oraculo Manol. Having thus proved our priori
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: that the ideal Book of Maxims was destined to be
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: the Oraculo Manual of Balthazar Gracian, let us proceed to
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: prove our proof, as schoolboys do with their sums. That
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: it is the best book of Maxims is a foregone
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: conclusion because there is none other. Schopenhauer, who translated the
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: book observes that there is nothing like it in German,
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: and there is certainly none approaching it in English. And
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: if France or Italy can produce its superior It is
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: strange that its fame has remained and so confined to
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: its native country. Not that there are not books teaching
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: the art of self advancement in almost all languages. The
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: success of doctor Smiles's volume on self Help is a
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: sufficient instance of this. Curiously enough, doctor Smiles's book has
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: had its greatest success in Italy, where it has given
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: rise to quite a literatua sel fel pista, as the
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: Italians themselves call it. Or rather not curiously, for if
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: you wish to find the most unromantic set of ideals nowadays,
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: you must go search among the romance nations. Gratian does not, however,
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: compete with doctor Smiles. He does not deal with broadwisde.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: He assumes that the vulgar question of bread and butter
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: has been settled in favor of his reader. He may
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: be worldly, but he is thinking of the great world.
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: He writes for man with a position, and how to
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: make the most of it. Nor is the amy puts
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: before such persons an entirely selfish one. The sole advantage,
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: which of power, is that you can do more good.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: Is the only rational defense of ambition, and Carthian employs
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: it maxim two hundred and eighty six. Indeed, the tone
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: of the book is exceptionally high. It is impossible to
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: accuse a man of any meanness who is the author
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: of such maxims, as one cannot praise a man too
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: much who speaks well of them who speak ill of
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: him one hundred and sixty two. Friends are a second
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: existence one hundred eleven. When to change the conversation when
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: they talk scandal two hundred and fifty. In great crisis,
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: there is no better companion than a bold heart one
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: hundred and sixty seven. The Secret of long life, Lead
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: a good life ninety be able to boast that if gallantry, generosity,
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: and fidelity were lost in the world, man would be
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: able to find them again in your own breast one
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: hundred and sixty five. A man of honor should never
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: forget what he is, because he sees what others are
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: two hundred and eighty And there are whole sections dealing
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: with such topics as rectitude twenty nine, sympathy with great
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: minds forty four, a genial disposition seventy nine, and the like.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: Not that he is without the more subtle devices of
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: the worldly wise, one could not wish to have anything
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: more cynical or stinging than the following. Find out each
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: man's thumb screw twenty six. A shrewd man knows that others,
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: when they seek him, do not seek him but their
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: advantage in him and by him two hundred and fifty two.
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: The truth, but not the whole truth one hundred and
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: eighty one. Keep to yourself the final touches of your
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: art two hundred and twelve. Do not take payment in
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: politeness one hundred and ninety one. Have a touch of
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: the trader two hundred and thirty two. Think with the
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: few and speak with the many forty three. Never have
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: a companion who casts you in the shade one hundred
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: and fifty two. Never become paradoxical in order to avoid
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: detroit one hundred and forty three. Do not show your
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: wounded finger one hundred and forty five. The characteristic of
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: the book is this combination, or rather contrast, of high
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: tone and shrewdness. Carathian is both wisely worldly and worldly wise.
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: After all, there does not seem to be any inherent
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: impossibility in the combination. There does not seem any radical
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: necessity why a good man should be a fool one
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: always has a certain grudge against Theckeray for making his
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: kernel newcome so silly at times do perhaps the irony
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: the Pathos, the tragedy of the book required it. As
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: a matter of fact, the holiest of men have been
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: some of the shrewdest for their friends, at least, if
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: not for themselves. The explanation of the combination in Grathian
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: is simple enough. He was a Jesuit, and the Jesuits
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: have just that combination of high tone and worldly wisdom
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: as their resondetre. And in the case of the Oraculo,
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: the mixture was easily affected by Grathian or his friend Lastanoza.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: For Grathian had written at least two series of works
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: in which this contrast was represented by separate books. Two
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: of these, describing the qualities of the hero and the
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: prudent man, E le Roi and El Discreto, were published
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: and are represented in The Oraculo. Two others, dealing with
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: the gallant and the cautious men, El Gallante and El
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: Varona Tento, are referred to by Lastanoza in the preface
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: of El Discreto, and are also doubtless represented in the book.
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: Before us one may guess that the section on high
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: mindedness one hundred and twenty eight or on nobility of
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: feeling one hundred and thirty one comes from El Galante,
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: while better mad with the rest of the world than
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: wise alone one hundred and thirty three smacks of al
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Varon Natento. At times we get the two tones curiously intermingled.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: Choose an heroic ideal seventy five seems at first sight
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: a noble sentiment, but Carthian goes on to qualify it
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: by adding but rather to emulate than to imitate. The
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: moderness of the tone is the thing that would strike
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: most readers. Apart from these contrasts, Here and there one
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: may be struck by an archaic note never compete, would
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: scarcely be the advice of a worldly teacher nowadays. But
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: on the whole there is a tone of modern good
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: society about the maxims, which one would scarcely find in
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: contemporary English works like Pitchems, or even in contemporary Friends
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: authors like Charon. The reason is that modern society is
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: permeated by influences which Gratian himself represented. The higher education
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: of Europe for the last two and a half centuries
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: has been in the hands of Jesuits or in schools
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: formed on the razzio studiorum, and society in the stricter
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: sense traces from the hotel Rombouille, where one have to
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: influence was Spanish. Grathian thus directly represents the tone of
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: the two societies which have set the tone of our
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: society of today. And it is no wonder therefore if
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: he is modern. Even in his style there is something
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: of a modern epigrammatic ring. At times there is the
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: euphuistic quaintness e g. One must pass to the circumference
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: of time before arriving at the center of opportunity. But
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: as a rule the terseness and point of the maxim
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: approximate to the modern epigram l lees cuzarce anteste ocassion
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: s culparce might be both the source and the model
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: of quies excuse sacuse. The terseness is indeed excessive and
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: carried to tacity in extremes Apoco sabert cameno real, ultima filithidad,
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: El philosophard arto presto sibien. Carcian jerks out four or
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: five words where a popular preacher would preach his sermon,
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: Yet I cannot agree with the writers who call him obscure.
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: He is one of the writers that make you think
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: before you grasp his meaning. But the meaning is there,
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: and put plainly enough, only tersely and very often indirectly,
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: after the manner of proverbs. There is indeed no doubt
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: that he and his predecessors were influenced by the form
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: of the Spanish proverb in drawing up aphorisms and maxims.
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: I say predecessors. For aphorismic literature, at any rate, was
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: no novelty in Spain. Among the long list of books
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: on ephora risms possessed by the late Sir William Sterling
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: Maxwell and still at Kiir, there are fully a dozen
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: Spanish ones who precede Grathian. Ernando Diaz Lopes de Corillas
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: and Melchio de Santa Cruz are the most important, though
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: the latter is more full of anecdotage. Among them is
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: a book of aphorismos by Antonio Peris, whose Relationiones has
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: been the chief means of blackening Philip the Second's character.
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: The former are undoubtedly of the same style as Carathian,
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: and probably influenced him Joe as they are aphorisms and
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: not maxims. I have not been able to quote parallels
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: in the notes. Thus una obra vallemiliars de Grathias peerras
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: aforismos one one hundred and ninety eight has the same
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: proverbial ring. It is curious to see litons the pen
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: is mightier than the sort anticipated by persis la plum
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: corta masquieres padres aphiliadas ibidem one hundred ninety nine, or
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: Voltaire's speech was given us to conceal our thoughts. In
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: pereses las palabras vestido de los Conceptos two, one hundred
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: and thirty, this last example has all Grathian's terseness, while
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: pereses Amigos destsiglo rostro soumanos corathones de fierras two seventy
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: one has both terstness and cynicism. Certainly, the only other
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: work in Spanish or any other literature preceding Rathian on
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: anything like the same lines is this book of Aphorismos
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: by Antonio Peris. It is somewhat of a question to
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: my mind how far Grathian was the author of the
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: final form of the maxims as we have them in
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: the Oraculo. Those taken from El Eroe and El Discreto,
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: differ from their originals with great advantage. They are tersa
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: more to the point and less euphuistic. Now the Address
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: to the Reader has all these qualities, and we may
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: assume was written by its signatory, Don Vincentio de la Stanosa.
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: It is just possible that we owe to him the
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: extreme terseness and point of the majority of the maxims
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: of the Oracula Manoir. It must, not, however, be assumed
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: that they are all as pointed and epigrammatic as those
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: I have quoted. Gracian seems advisedly to have embedded his
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: jewels in a duller setting. At times he vies with
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: the leaders of the great sect of the Platitudinarians, and
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: he can be as banal as he is brilliant, even
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: as it is his very brilliancy wearies, and after fifty
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: maxims or so, one longs for a more fruity wisdom,
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: a more digressive discussion of life, like those learned, wise
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: and witty essays of mister Stevenson, which may some day
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: take higher rank as literature than even his novels. Perhaps,
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: after all, the weariness to which I refer may be
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: due to the cautious tone of the book. To succeed
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: one must be prudent. That is the great moral of
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: the book. And if so, does it seem worth while
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: to succeed? If life is to be denuded of the
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: eliatory element, is it worth living well? Grathian meets you
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: when in that temper too. It is indeed remarkable how
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: frequently he refers to luck, how you are to trust
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: your luck, weigh your luck, follow your luck, know your
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: unlucky days, and so forth. Is all this a confession that,
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: after all, life is too complex a game for any
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: rules to be of much use. Granted, but there is
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: one thing certain about life, and that is put by
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: gerthe in the lines which I, following Schopenhauer, have placed
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: at the head of my translation. One must be either
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: hammer or envil in this world, and too great an
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: excess of idealism only means that the unideal people should
• 48:53
  Speaker 3: rule the world. To guard against both extremes, we have
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: the paradoxical advice I have heard a tributed to mister Ruskin,
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: fit yourself for the best society and then never enter it.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: Whether any ideal person will learn to rule the world
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: by studying Gratian's or anyone else's maxims is somewhat more doubtful,
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: for reasons I have given above in discussing proverbs. The
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: man who can act on maxims can act without them,
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: and so does not need them. And there is the
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: same amount of contradiction in maxims as in proverbs. Thus,
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: to quote an example from the book before us, from
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: Maxim one hundred and thirty two, it would seem best
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: to keep back an intended gift long expected is highest priced,
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: whereas from Maxim two hundred and thirty six we learn
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: that the promptness of the gift obliges the more strongly
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: which maxim are we to act upon. That depends on circumstances,
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: and the judgment that can decide on the circumstances can
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: do without the maxims. I cannot therefore promise success in
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: the world to whomsoever may read this book. Otherwise I
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: should perhaps not have published it. But whether Grathian's maxims
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: are true or useful scarcely affects their value to the
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: student of literature. As such, the flimsiest sentiment or the
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: merest paradox, aptly put, is worth the sublimest truth ill expressed,
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: and there can be little doubt that Grathian puts his
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: points well and vigorously. I cannot hope to have reproduced
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: adequately all the vigor and force of his style, the
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: subtlety of his distinctions, or the shrewdness of his mother wit.
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: But enough, I hope has emerged during the process of
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: translation to convince the reader that Grathian's or raculou Manoir
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: has much wisdom, in small, compass and well put end
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: of section two. No laws for the just, no counsels
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: for the wise. Yet no one ever knew as much
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: as he had. Need one thing you must forgive another.
• 51:02
  Speaker 3: Thank me, for I have called this manual of worldly
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: wisdom an oracle for at this one in curtness and sententiousness.
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: On the other hand, I offer you in one all
• 51:14
  Speaker 3: the twelve works of Gracian. Each of these is so
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: highly thought of that his prudent man had scarcely appeared
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: in Spain than it was enjoyed among the French, in
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: whose language it was translated, and at whose court it
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: was printed. May this be Wisdom's bill of fare at
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: the banquet of her sages, in which she inscribes the
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: items of the feast of reason to be found in
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: Grathia's other works Don Vincenzio Juan de Lastanosa One. Everything
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: is at its acme, especially the art of making one's
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: way in the world. There is more required nowadays to
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: make a single wise man than formerly to make seven sages,
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: and more is needed nowadays to deal with a single
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: person then was required with the whole people in former times.
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: Two character and intellect, the two poles of our capacity.
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: One without the other is but half way to happiness.
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: Intellect suffices not Character is also needed. On the other hand,
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: it is the fool's misfortune to fail in obtaining the position,
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: the employment, the neighborhood, and the circle of friends that
• 52:29
  Speaker 3: suit him. Three keep matters for a time in suspense.
• 52:36
  Speaker 3: Admiration at their novelty heightens the value of your achievements.
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: It is both useless and insipid to play with the
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: cards on the table. If you do not declare yourself immediately,
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: you arouse expectation, especially when the importance of your position
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: makes you the object of general attention. Mix a little
• 52:56
  Speaker 3: mystery with everything, and the very mystery arouses veneration. And
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: when you explain, be not too explicit. Just as you
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary intercourse. Cautious
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: silence is the holy of holies, of worldly wisdom. A
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: resolution declared is never highly thought of. It only leaves
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: room for criticism, and if it happens to fail, you
• 53:23
  Speaker 3: are doubly unfortunate. Besides, you imitate the divine way when
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: you cause men to wander and watch. Four. Knowledge and
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: courage are the elements of greatness. They give immortality because
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: they are immortal. Each is as much as he knows,
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: and wise can do anything. A man without knowledge a
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: world without light, wisdom, and strength, eyes and hands. Knowledge
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: without courage is sterile. Five create a feeling of dependence.
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: Not he that adorns, but he that adores makes a divinity.
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: The wise man would rather see men needing him than
• 54:10
  Speaker 3: thanking him. To keep them on the threshold of hope
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: is diplomatic to trust to their gratitude boorish hope has
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: a good memory, gratitude a bad one. More is to
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: be got from dependence than from courtesy. He that has
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well, and
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: the orange, once sucked, falls from the golden platter into
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: the waste basket. When dependence disappears, good behavior goes with it,
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: as well as respect. Let it be one of the
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: chief lessons of experience to keep hope alive without entirely
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: satisfying it by preserving it. To make oneself always needed,
• 54:53
  Speaker 3: even by a patron on the throne. But let not
• 54:56
  Speaker 3: silence be carried to access lest you go wrong, nor
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: let another's failing grow incurable, for the sake of your
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: own advantage. Six a man at his highest point. We
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: are not born perfect. Every day we develop in our
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: personality and in our calling, till we reach the highest
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: point of our completed being, to the full round of
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: our accomplishments of our excellences. This is known by the
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: purity of our taste, the clearness of our thought, the
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: maturity of our judgment, and the firmness of our will.
• 55:34
  Speaker 3: Some never arrive at being complete. Somewhat is always wanting,
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: others ripen too late. The complete man, wise in speech,
• 55:44
  Speaker 3: prudent in act, is admitted to the familiar intimacy of
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: discreet persons, is even sought for by them. Seven. Avoid
• 55:55
  Speaker 3: victories over superiors. All victories breed hate, And that over
• 56:00
  Speaker 3: your superior is foolish or fatal. Superiority is always detested.
• 56:07
  Speaker 3: Are for theory superiority over superiority. Caution can gloss over
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: common advantages. For example, good looks may be cloaked by
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: careless attire. There be some that will grant you precedence
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: in good luck or good temper, but none in good sense.
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: Least of all a prince, for good sense is a
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: royal prerogative. Any claim to that is a case of
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: lais majesty. They are princes, and wish to be so
• 56:34
  Speaker 3: in that most princely of qualities. They will allow a
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: man to help them, but not to surpass them, and
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: will have any advice tender them appear like a recollection
• 56:45
  Speaker 3: of something they have forgotten, rather than as a guide
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: to something they cannot find. The stars teach us this
• 56:52
  Speaker 3: Finesse with happy tact. Though they are his children and
• 56:56
  Speaker 3: brilliant like him, they never rival the brilliancy of the Sun.
• 57:00
  Speaker 4: Eight.
• 57:02
  Speaker 3: To be without passions tis a privilege of the highest
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: order of mind. Their very eminence redeems them from being
• 57:10
  Speaker 3: affected by transient and low impulses. There is no higher
• 57:14
  Speaker 3: rule than the one over one's self. Over one's impulses,
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: there is the triumph of free will, while passion rules
• 57:23
  Speaker 3: the character. No aiming at high office, the less the higher.
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: It is the only refined way of avoiding scandals. Nay,
• 57:32
  Speaker 3: tis the shortest way back to good repute. Nine. Avoid
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: to faults of your nation. Water shares the good or
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: bad qualities of the strata through which it flows, and
• 57:45
  Speaker 3: man those of the climate in which he is born.
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: Some ow more than others to their native land because
• 57:52
  Speaker 3: there is a more favorable sky in the senith. There
• 57:55
  Speaker 3: is not a nation, even among the most civilized, that
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: has not some fault peculiar to itself, which other nations
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: blame by way of boast or as a warning. Tis
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: a triumph of cleverness. To correct in oneself such national failings,
• 58:10
  Speaker 3: or even to hide them. You get great credit for
• 58:13
  Speaker 3: being unique among your fellows, and as it is less
• 58:16
  Speaker 3: expected of you, it is esteemed the more. There are
• 58:20
  Speaker 3: also family failings, as well as faults of position, of office,
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: or of age. If these all meet in one person
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: and are not carefully guarded against, they make an intolerable monster. Ten.
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: Fortune and fame, Where the one is fickle, the other
• 58:38
  Speaker 3: is enduring, the first for life, the second afterwards the
• 58:43
  Speaker 3: one against envy, the other against oblivion. Fortune is desired
• 58:49
  Speaker 3: at times assisted fame is earned. The desire for fame
• 58:54
  Speaker 3: springs from man's best part. It was and is the
• 58:57
  Speaker 3: sister of the giants. It always goes to extremes, horrible monsters,
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: or brilliant prodigies. End of section three. Cultivate those who
• 59:10
  Speaker 3: can teach you. Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge,
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: and culture be taught through conversation. Thus you make your
• 59:18
  Speaker 3: friends your teachers, and mingle the pleasures of conversation with
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: the advantages of instruction. Sensible persons thus enjoy alternating pleasures.
• 59:29
  Speaker 3: They reap applause for what they say and gain instruction
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: from what they hear. We are always attracted to others
• 59:35
  Speaker 3: by our own interest, but in this case it is
• 59:38
  Speaker 3: of a higher kind. Wise men frequent the houses of
• 59:42
  Speaker 3: great noblemen, not because they are temples of vanity, but
• 59:45
  Speaker 3: as theaters of good breeding. There be gentlemen who have
• 59:49
  Speaker 3: the credit of worldly wisdom, because they are not only
• 59:52
  Speaker 3: themselves oracles of all nobleness by their example and their behavior,
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: but those who surround them form a well bred academy
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: of worldly wisdom, of the best and noblest kind twelve
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: Nature and art, material and workmanship. There is no beauty unadorned,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: were not supported by artifice. This remedies the evil and
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: improves the good. Nature scarcely ever, gives us the very best.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 3: For that, we must have recourse to art. Without this,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 3: the best of natural dispositions is uncultured, and have is
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: lacking to any excellence. If training is absent, everyone has
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 3: something unpolished without artificial training, and every kind of excellence
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 3: needs some polish thirteen. Act, sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 3: on first impulse. Man's life is a warfare against the
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: malice of men. Sagacity fights with strategic changes of intention.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: It never does what it threats. It aims only at
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: escaping notice. It aims in the air with dexterity and
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 3: strikes home in an unexpected direction, always seeking to conceal
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 3: its game. It lets a purpose appear in order to
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 3: attract the opponent's attention, but then turns round and conquers
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 3: by the unexpected. But a penetrating intelligence anticipates this by
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: watchfulness and lurks in ambush. It always understands the opposite
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 3: of what the opponent wishes it to understand, and recognizes
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 3: every fiend of guile. It lets the first impulse pass
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 3: by and waits for the second or even the third.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 3: Sagacity now rises to higher flights on seeing its artifice foreseen,
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 3: and tries to deceive by truth. Itself changes its game
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: in order to change its deceit, and cheats by not cheating,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 3: and founds deception on the greatest candor. But the opposing
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: intelligence is on guard with increased watchfulness, and discovers the
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 3: darkness concealed by the light and deciphers every move, the
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 3: more subtle because more simple. In this way, the guile
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 3: of the python combats the far doubting rays of Apollo fourteen.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 3: The thing itself and the way it is done. Substance
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 3: is not enough. Accident is also required, as does Scholastics say,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 3: a bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice. A
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 3: good one supplies everything, gilds a no sweetened truth, and
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: adds a touch of beauty to old age itself. The
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 3: how plays a large part in affairs. A good manner
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: steals into the affections. Fine behavior is a joy in life,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 3: and a pleasant expression helps out of a difficulty in
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: a remarkable way. Fifteen, keep ministering spirits. It is a
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 3: privilege of them mighty to surround themselves with the champions
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 3: of intellect. These extricate them from every fear of ignorance.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 3: These worry out for them the moot points of every difficulty.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 3: Tis a rare greatness to make use of the wise,
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 3: and far exceeds the barbarous taste of Tigranis, who had
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 3: a fancy for captive monarchs as his servants. It is
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 3: a novel kind of supremacy, the best that life can offer.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 3: To have as servants by skill, those who by nature
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 3: are our masters, tis a great thing to know little,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 3: to live no real life without knowledge. There is remarkable
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 3: cleverness in studying without study, in getting much by means
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 3: of many, and through them all to become wise. Afterwards,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 3: you speak in the council chamber on behalf of many,
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 3: and as many sages speak through your mouth, as were
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 3: consulted beforehand. You thus obtain the fame of an oracle
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 3: by others. Toil such ministry, spirits distill the best books,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 3: and serve up the quintessence of wisdom. But he that
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 3: cannot have sages in service should have them for his friends.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 3: Sixteen Knowledge and good intentions to gather ensure continuance of success.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 3: A fine intellect wedded to a wicked will was always
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 3: an unnatural monster. A wicked will and venoms all excellences
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 3: helped by knowledge. It only ruins with greater subtlety. 'tis
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 3: a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge without
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 3: sense is double folly. Seventeen. Vary the mode of action
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 3: not always the same way, so as to distract attention,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 3: especially if there be a rival, not always from first impulse.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 3: They will soon recognize the uniformity, and by anticipating, frustrate
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 3: your designs. It is easy to kill a bird on
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 3: the wing that flies straight, So one that twists, nor
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 3: always act on second thoughts take can discern the plan.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 3: The second time the enemy is on the watch, great
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 3: skill is required to circumvent him. The gamester never places
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 3: the card. The opponent expects still less that which he wants.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 3: Eighteen Application and ability. There is no attaining eminence without both,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: and where they unite there is the greatest eminence. Mediocrity
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 3: obtains more with application than superiority without it. Work is
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 3: the price which is paid for reputation. What costs little
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 3: is little worth even for the highest posts. It is
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 3: only in some cases application that is wanting. Rarely the
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 3: talent to prefer moderate success in great things than eminence
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 3: in a humble post has the excuse of a generous mind.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 3: But not so to be content with humble mediocrity when
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: you could shine among the highest does. Nature and art
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: are both needed, and application sets on them. The Seal
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 3: nineteen arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering. It is the
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 3: usual ill luck of all celebrities not to fulfill afterwards
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 3: the expectations beforehand formed of them. The real can never
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 3: equal be imagined, for it is easy to form ideals,
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: but very difficult to realize them. Imagination wedds hope and
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 3: gives birth to much more than things are in themselves.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 3: However great the excellencies, they never suffice to fulfill expectations,
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 3: And as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations,
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: they are more ready to be disillusioned than to admire.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 3: Hope is a great falsifier of truth. Let's skill guard
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 3: against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. A few
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 3: creditable attempts at the beginning are sufficient to arouse curiosity
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 3: without pledging one to the final object. It is better
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 3: that reality should surpass the design and is better than
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 3: was thought. This rule does not apply to the wicked,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: for the same exaggeration is a great aid to them.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 3: They are defeated amid general applause, and what seemed at
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 3: first extreme ruin comes to be thought quite bearable. Twenty
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 3: A man of the age. The rarest individuals depend on
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 3: their age. It is not every one that finds the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 3: age he deserves, and even when he finds it, he
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 3: does not always know how to utilize it. Some men
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 3: have been worthy of a better century, for every species
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 3: of good does not always triumph. Things have their period.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 3: Even excellencies are subject to fashion. The sage has one
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 3: advantage he is immortal. If this is not his century,
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 3: many others will be. And of section four the art
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 3: of being lucky, there are rules of luck. It is
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 3: not all chance with the wise. It can be assisted
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 3: by care. Some content themselves with placing themselves confidently at
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 3: the gate of fortune, waiting till she opens it. Others
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 3: do better and press forward and profit by their clever boldness,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 3: reaching the Goddess and winning her favor on the wings
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 3: of their virtue and valor. But on a true philosophy,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 3: there is no other umpire than virtue and insight. For
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 3: there is no luck or ill luck except wisdom and
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 3: the reverse. Twenty two A man of knowledge to the point.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 3: Wise men arm themselves with tasteful and elegant erudition, a
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 3: practical knowledge of what is going on, not of a
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 3: common kind, but more like an expert. They possess a
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 3: copious store of wise and witty sayings and of noble deeds,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 3: and know how to employ them on fitting occasions. More
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 3: is often taught by a jest, done by the most
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 3: serious teaching. Pet knowledge helps some more than the seven arts,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 3: be they ever so liberal. Twenty three b spotless the
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 3: indispensable condition of perfection. Few live without some weak point,
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 3: either physical or moral, which they pamper because they could
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 3: easily cure it. The keenness of others often regrets to
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 3: see a slight defect attaching itself to a whole assembly
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 3: of elevated qualities. And yet a single cloud can hide
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 3: the whole of the sun. There are likewise patches on
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 3: our reputation, which ill will soon finds out, and is
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 3: continually noticing. The highest skill is to transform them into ornament.
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 3: So Caesar hid his natural defects with the laurel. Twenty four.
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 3: Keep the imagination under control, sometimes correcting, sometimes assisting it
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 3: for a all important for our happiness, and even sets
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 3: the reason right. It can tyrannize and is not content
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 3: with looking on, but influences and even often dominates life,
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 3: causing it to be happy or burdensome according to the
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 3: folly to which it leads. For it makes us either
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 3: contented or discontented with ourselves. Before some it continually holds
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 3: up the penalties of action and becomes the mortifying lash
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 3: of these fools. To others, it promises happiness and adventure
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 3: with blissful delusion. It can do all this unless the
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 3: most prudent self control keeps it in subjection. Twenty five.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 3: Know how to take a hint Twas once the art
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 3: of arts to be able to discourse, now tis no
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 3: longer sufficient. We must know how to take a hint,
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 3: especially in disabusing ourselves. He cannot make himself understood who
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 3: does not himself easily understand. But on the other hand,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 3: and there are pretended diviners of the heart and lynxes
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 3: of the intentions. The very truth which concern us most
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 3: can only be half spoken, but with a tension we
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 3: can grasp the whole meaning. When you hear anything favorable,
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 3: keep a tight rein on your credulity. If unfavorable, give
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 3: it the spur Twenty six. Find out each man's thumb
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 3: screw tis the art of setting their wills in action.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 3: It needs more skill than resolution. You must know where
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 3: to get at any one. Every volition has a special motive,
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 3: which varies according to taste. All men are idolatus, some
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 3: of fame, others of self interest, most of pleasure. Skill
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 3: consists in knowing these idols in order to bring them
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 3: into play. Knowing any man's mainspring of motive, you have,
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 3: as it were, the key to his will. Have resort
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 3: to prime remoters, which are not always the highest, but
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 3: more often the lowest part of his nature. There are
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 3: more dispositions badly organized than while first guess a man's
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 3: ruling passion, appeal to it by a word, set it
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 3: in motion by temptation, and you will infallibly give check
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 3: mate to his freedom of will. Twenty seven price intensity
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 3: more than extent. Excellence resides in quality, not in quantity.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 3: The best is always few and rare, much lower's value.
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 3: Even among men, giants are commonly the real dwarfs. Some
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 3: reckon books by the thickness, as if they were written
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 3: to try the brawn more than the brain. Extent alone
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 3: never rises above mediocrity. It is the misfortune of universal geniuses, that,
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 3: in attempting to be at home everywhere, are so nowhere.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 3: Intensity gives eminence and rises to the heroic in matters
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 3: sublime twenty eight. Common in nothing. First, not in taste.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 3: O great and wise to be ill at ease when
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 3: your deeds please the mob. The excesses of popular applause
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 3: never satisfied a sensible Some. There are such chameleons of
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 3: popularity that they find enjoyment not in the sweet savors
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 3: of Apollo, but in the breath of the mob. Secondly,
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 3: not in intelligence, take no pleasure in the wonder of
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 3: the mob. For ignorance never gets beyond wonder, While vulgar
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 3: folly wanders, wisdom watches for the trick twenty nine. A
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 3: man of reptitude clings to the sect of right with
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 3: such tenacity of purpose, that neither the passions of the
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 3: mob nor the violence of the tyrant can ever cause
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 3: him to transgressed bounds of right. But who shall be
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 3: such a phoenix of equity? What a scanty for following
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 3: has rectitude? Many praise it, indeed, but for others others
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 3: follow it till danger threatens. Then the false deny it,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 3: the politic conceal it, for it cares not if it
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 3: fights with friendship, power, or even self interest. Then comes
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 3: the danger of desertion. Then astute man make plausible distinctions
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 3: so as not to stand in the way of their
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 3: superiors or of reasons of state. But a straightforward and
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 3: constant regard dissimulation as a kind of treason, and set
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 3: more store on tenacity than on sagacity. Such are always
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 3: to be found on the side of truth, And if
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 3: they desert a party, they do not change from fickleness.
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 3: But because the others have first deserted truth, thirty have
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 3: naught to do with occupations of ill repute, still less
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 3: with fads that bring more notoriety than repute. There are
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 3: many fanciful sects, and from all the prudent man has
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 3: to flee. There are bizarre tastes that always take to
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 3: their heart all that wise men repudiate. They live in
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 3: love with singularity. This may make them well known, indeed,
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 3: but more as objects of ridicule than of repute. A
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 3: cautious man does not even make profession of his wisdom,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 3: still less of those matters that make their followers ridiculous.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 3: These need not be specified, for common contempt has sufficiently
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 3: singled them out. End of Section five. Select the lucky
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 3: and avoid the unlucky. Ill luck is generally the penalty
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 3: of folly, and there is no disease so contagious to
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 3: those who share in it. Never open the door to
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 3: a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 3: in after it. The greatest skill at cards is to
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 3: know when to discard it. The smallest of current trumps
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 3: is worth more than the ace of trumps of the
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 3: last game. When in doubt, follow the suit of the
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 3: wise and the prudent. Sooner or later they will win
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 3: the odd trick. Thirty two have the reputation of being gracious.
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 3: Tis the chief glory of the high and mighty. To
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 3: be gracious a prerogative of kings to conquer universal good will,
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 3: that is the great advantage of a commanding position to
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 3: be able to do more good than others. Those make
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 3: friends who do friendly acts. On the other hand, there
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 3: are some who lay themselves out for not being gracious,
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 3: not on account of the difficulty, but from a bad
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 3: disposition in all things. They are the opposite of divine grace.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 3: Thirty three. Know how to withdraw. If it is a
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 3: great lesson in life to know how to deny, it
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 3: is still greater to know how to deny one's self.
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 3: As regards both affairs and persons, there are extraneous occupations
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 3: which eat away precious time. To be occupied in what
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 3: does not concern you is worse than doing nothing. It
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 3: is not enough for a careful man not to interfere
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 3: with others. He must see that they do not interfere
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 3: with him. One is not obliged to belong so much
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 3: to all as not to belong at all to oneself.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 3: So with friends, their help should not be abused or
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 3: more demanded from them than they themselves will grant. All
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 3: access is a failing, but above all in personal intercourse,
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 3: a wise moderation in this best preserves the good will
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 3: and esteem of all, For by this means that precious
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 3: boon of courtesy is not gradually worn away. Thus you
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 3: preserve your genius, free to select the elect and never
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 3: sin against the unwritten laws of good taste. Thirty four.
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 3: Know your strongest point, your pre eminent gift. Cultivate that,
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 3: and you will assist the rest. Everyone would have excelled
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 3: in something if he had known his strong point. Notice
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 3: in what quality you surpass, and take charge of that
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 3: In some judgment excels in others. Valor most to violence
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 3: to their natural aptitude, and thus attains superiority in nothing.
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 3: Time disillusionizes us too late of what first flattered the passions.
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 3: Thirty five Think over things most over the most important.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 3: All fools come to grief from want of thought. They
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 3: never see even the half of things, and as they
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 3: do not observe their own loss or gain, still less
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 3: do they apply any diligence to them. Some make much
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 3: of what imports little, and little of much, always weighing
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 3: in the wrong scale. Many never lose their common sense
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 3: because they have none to lose. There are matters which
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 3: should be observed with the closest attention of the mind,
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 3: and thenceforth kept in its lowest depths. The wise man
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 3: thinks over everything, but with the difference most profoundly where
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 3: there is some profound difficulty, and thinks that perhaps there
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 3: is more in it than he thinks. Thus his comprehension
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 3: extends as far as his apprehension. Thirty six. In acting
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 3: or refraining, weigh your luck. More depends on that than
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 3: on noticing your temperament. If he is a fool who
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 3: at forty applies to Hippocrates for health, still more is
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 3: he one who then applies to Seneca for wisdom. It
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 3: is a great piece of skill to know how to
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 3: guide your luck even while waiting for it. For something
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 3: is to be done with it by waiting, so as
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 3: to use it at a proper moment. Since it has
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 3: periods and offers opportunities, though one cannot calculate its path,
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 3: it steps us so irregular. When you find fortune favorable,
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 3: stride boldly forward, for she favors the bold, and being
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 3: a woman the young. But if you have bad luck,
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 3: keep retired, so as not to redouble the influence of
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 3: your unlucky star. Thirty seven. Keep a store of sarcasms
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 3: and know how to use them. This is the point
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 3: of greatest tact in human intercourse. Such sarcasms are often
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 3: thrown out to test man's mood, and by their means
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 3: one often obtains the most subtle and penetrating touchstone of
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 3: the heart. Other sarcasms are malicious, insolent, poisoned by envy
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 3: or envenomed by passion, unexpected flashes, which destroy at once
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 3: all favor and esteem. Struck by the slightest word of
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 3: this kind, many fall away from the closest intimacy with
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 3: superiors or inferiors, which could not be the slightest shaken
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 3: by a whole conspiracy of popular insinuation or private malevolence.
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 3: Other sarcasms, on the other hand, work favorably confirming and
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 3: assisting one's reputation. But the greater the skill with which
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 3: they are launched, the greater the caution with which they
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 3: should be received, and the foresight with which they should
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 3: be foreseen. For here a knowledge of the evil is
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 3: in itself a means of defense, and the shot foreseen
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 3: always misses its mark. Thirty eight. Leave your luck while winning.
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 3: All the best players do it. A fine retreat is
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 3: as good as a gallant attack. Bring your exploits under
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 3: cover when there are enough, or even when there are
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 3: many of them. Luck long lasting, was ever suspicious. Interrupted
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 3: seems safer, and is even sweeter to the taste for
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 3: a little infusion of bitter sweet. The higher the heap
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 3: of luck, the greater the risk of a slip, and
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 3: down comes all. Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 3: of her favors, by the shortness of their duration. She
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 3: soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 4: Thirty nine.
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 3: Recognize when things are ripe, and then enjoy them. The
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 3: works of nature all reach a certain point of maturity,
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 3: up to deb they improve. After that they degenerate. Few
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 3: works of art reach such a point that they cannot
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 3: be improved. It is an especial privilege of good taste
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 3: to enjoy everything at its ripest. Not all can do this,
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 3: nor do all who can notice there is a ripening
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 3: point too. For fruits of intellect. It is well to
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 3: know this, both for their value in use and for
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 3: their value in exchange. Forty The good will of people
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 3: tis much to gain universal admiration, more universal love. Something
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 3: depends on natural disposition, more on practice. The first founds
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 3: the second, then builds on that foundation. Brilliant parts suffice
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 3: not though they are presupposed win good opinion. It is
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 3: easy to win goodwill. Kindly acts besides are required to
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 3: produce kindly feelings, doing good with both hands, good words,
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 3: and better deeds, loving so as to be loved. Courtesy
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 3: is the politic witchery of great personages. First lay hand
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 3: on deeds, and then on pens. Words follow swords, for
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 3: there is good will to be won among writers, and
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 3: it is eternal. End of section six.
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 5: Never exaggerate. It is an important object of attention not
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 5: to talk in superlatives, so as neither to offend against truth,
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 5: nor to give a mean eye idea of one's understanding.
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 5: Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment, which shows the
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 5: narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste. Praise arouses lively,
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 5: curiosity begets desire, and if afterwards the value does not
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 5: correspond to the price, as generally happens, expectation revolts against
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 5: the deception and revenges itself by underestimating the thing recommended
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 5: and the person recommending. A prudent man goes more cautiously
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 5: to work, and prefers to err by omission than by commission.
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 5: Extraordinary things are rare Therefore moderate ordinary valuation. Exaggeration is
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 5: a branch of lying, and you lose by it the
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 5: credit of good taste, which is much, and of good sense,
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 5: which is more. Forty two. Born to command. It is
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 5: a secret force of superiority, not to have to get
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 5: on by artful trickery, but by an inborn power of rule.
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 5: All submit to it without knowing why, recognizing the secret
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 5: vigor of connatural authority. Such magisterial spirits are kings by merit,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 5: and lions by innate privilege. By the esteem which they inspire,
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 5: they hold the hearts and minds of the rest, if
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 5: their other qualities permit. Such men are born to be
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 5: the prime motors of the state. They perform more by
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 5: a gesture than others by a long harangue.
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 2: Forty three.
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 5: Think with the few, and speak with the many by
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 5: swimming against the stream. It is impossible to remove error,
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 5: easy to fall into danger, only as Socrates can undertake it.
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 5: To dissent from others views is regarded as an insult
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 5: because it is their condemnation. Disgust is doubled on account
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 5: of the thing blamed and of the person who praised it.
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 5: Truth is for the few. Error is both common and vulgar.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 5: The wise man is not known by what he says
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 5: on the housetops, for there he speaks not with his
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 5: own voice, but with that of common folly. However much
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 5: his inmost thoughts may gainsay it. The prudent avoid being
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 5: contradicted as much as contradicting. Though they have their censure ready,
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 5: they are not ready to publish it. Thought is free.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 5: Force cannot and should not be used to it. The
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 5: wise man therefore retires into silence, and if he allows
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 5: himself to come out of it, he does so in
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 5: the shade and before few and fit persons.
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 2: Forty four.
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 5: Sympathy with great minds. It is an heroic quality to
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 5: agree with heroes. Tis like a miracle of nature. For
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 5: mystery and for use, there is a natural kinship of
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 5: hearts and minds. Its effects are such that vulgar ignorance, sense, witchcraft,
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 5: esteem established, good will follows, which at times reaches affection.
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 5: It persuades without words and obtains without earning. This sympathy
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 5: is sometimes active, sometimes passive, both alike felicific. The more
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 5: so the more sublime. Tis a great art to recognize,
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 5: to distinguish, and to utilize this gift. No amount of
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 5: energy suffices without that favor of nature.
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 2: Forty five.
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 5: Use, but do not abuse cunning. One ought not to
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 5: delight in it, still less to boast of it. Everything
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 5: artificial should be concealed. Most of all cunning, which is
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 5: hated deceit is much in use. Therefore our caution to
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 5: be redoubled, but not so as to show itself, for
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 5: it arouses distrust, causes much annoy, awakens revenge, and gives
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 5: rise to more ills than you would imagine. To go
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 5: to work with. Caution is of great advantage in action,
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 5: and there is no greater proof of wisdom. The greatest
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 5: skill in any deed consists in the sure mastery with
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 5: which it is executed.
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 2: Forty six.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 5: Master your antipathies. We often allow ourselves to take dislikes,
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 5: and that before we know anything of a person. At times,
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 5: this innate yet vulgar aversion attaches itself to eminent personalities.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 5: Good sense masters this feeling, for there is nothing more
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 5: discreditable than to dislike those better than ourselves. As sympathy
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 5: with great men ennobles us, so dislike to them degrades us.
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 5: Forty seven Avoid affairs of honor, one of the chiefest
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 5: aims of prudence. In men of great ability, the extremes
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 5: are kept far asunder, so that there is a long
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 5: distance between them, and they always keep in the middle
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 5: of their caution, so that they take time to.
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 2: Break through it.
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 5: It is easier to avoid such affairs than to come
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 5: well out of them. They test our judgment. It is
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 5: better to avoid them than to conquer in them. One
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 5: affair of honor leads to another, and may lead to
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 5: an affair of dishonor. There are men so constituted by
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 5: nature or by nation that they easily enter upon such obligations.
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 5: But for him that walks by the light of reason,
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 5: such a matter requires long thinking over. There is more
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 5: valor needed not to take up the affair than to
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 5: conquer in it. When there is one fool ready for
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 5: the occasion, one may excuse oneself from being the second
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 5: forty eight b thorough. How much depends on the person.
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 5: The interior must be at least as much as the exterior.
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 5: How much depends on the person. The interior must be
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 5: at least as much as the exterior. There are natures
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 5: all frontage like houses. For want of means have the
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 5: portico of a palace leading to the rooms of a cottage.
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 5: It is no use boring into such persons, although they
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 5: bore you for conversation. Flags After the first salutation, they
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 5: prance through the first compliments like Sicilian barbes, but silence
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 5: soon succeeds, for the flow of words soon ceases. Where
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 5: there is no spring of thoughts. Others may be taken
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 5: in by them, because they themselves have but a view
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 5: of the surface, But not the prudent, who look within
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 5: them and find nothing there except material for scorn. Forty nine.
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 5: Observation and judgment. A man with these rules things not
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 5: they him, He sounds at once the profoundest depths. He
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 5: is a phrenologist by means of physiognomy. On seeing a person,
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 5: he understands him and judges of his inmost nature. From
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 5: a few observations, he deciphers the most hidden recesses of
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 5: his nature. Keen observation, subtle insight, judicious inference. With these,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 5: he discovers, notices, grasps, and comprehends everything. Fifty Never lose
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 5: self respect or be too familiar with oneself. Let your
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 5: own right feeling be the true standard of your rectitude.
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 5: And owe more to the strictness of your own self
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 5: judgment than to all external sanctions. Leave off anything unseemly,
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 5: more from regard for your own self respect than from
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 5: fear of external authority. Pay regard to that, and there
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 5: is no need of Seneca's imaginary tutor end of section seven.
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 5: Know how to choose well. Most of life depends thereon.
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 5: It needs good taste and correct judgment, for which neither
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 5: intellect nor study suffices. To be choice, you must choose,
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 5: and for this two things are needed to be able
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 5: to choose at all, and then to choose the best.
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 5: There are many men of fecond and subtle mind, of
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 5: keen judgment, of much learning, and of great observation, who
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 5: yet are at a loss when they come to choose.
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 5: They always take the worst, as if they had tried
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 5: to go wrong. Thus this is one of the greatest
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 5: gifts from above.
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 4: Fifty two.
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 5: Never be put out tis a great aim of prudence,
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 5: never to be embarrassed. It is the sign of a
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 5: real man, of a noble heart. For magnanimity is not
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 5: easily put out. The passions are the humors of the soul,
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 5: and every excess in them weakens prudence. If they overflow
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 5: through the mouth, the reputation will be in danger. Let
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 5: a man therefore be so much and so great a
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 5: master over himself, that neither in the most fortunate nor
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 5: in the most adverse circumstances, can anything cause his reputation
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 5: injury by disturbing his self possession, but rather enhance it
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 5: by showing his superiority. Fifty three Diligent and intelligent. Diligence
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 5: promptly executes what intelligence slowly excogitates. Hurry is the failing
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 5: of fools. They know not the crucial point and set
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 5: to work without preparation. On the other hand, the wis
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 5: more often fail from procrastination. Foresight begets deliberation, and remiss
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 5: action often nullifies prompt judgment. Celerity is the mother of
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 5: good fortune. He has done much, who leaves nothing over
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 5: till tomorrow. Festina lente is a royal motto. Fifty four
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 5: know how to show your teeth. Even hairs can pull
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 5: the mane of a dead lion. There is no joke
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 5: about courage. Give way to the first, and you must
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 5: yield to the second, and so on till the last.
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 5: And to gain your point at last cost as much trouble,
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 5: as would have gained much more at first. Moral courage
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 5: exceeds physical. It should be like a sword kept ready
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 5: for use in the scabbard of caution. It is the
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 5: shield of great place. Moral cowardice lowers one more than physical.
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 5: Many have had eminent qualities, yet for want of a
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 5: stout heart, they passed inanimate lives and found a tomb
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 5: in their own sloth. Wise nature has thought nottfully combined
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 5: in the bee the sweetness of its honey with the
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 5: sharpness of its sting. Fifty five Wait, it's a sign
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 5: of a noble heart, dowered with patience. Never to be
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 5: in a hurry, never to be in a passion. First
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 5: be master over yourself. If you would be master over others,
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 5: you must pass through the circumference of time before arriving
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 5: at the center of opportunity. A wise reserve seasons the
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 5: aims and matures the means. Times crutch affects more than
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 5: the iron club of Hercules. God himself chasteneth not with
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 5: a rod, but with time. He spake a great word,
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 5: who said time, and iye against any two charles. The
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 5: fifth fortune herself rewards waiting with the first prize fifty six.
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 5: Have presence of mind, the child of a happy promptitude
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 5: of spirit. Owing to this vivacity and wide awakeness, there
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 5: is no fear of danger or mischance. Many reflect much,
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 5: only to go wrong in the end. Others attain their
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 5: aim without thinking of it beforehand. There are natures of
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 5: antiperistasis who work best in an emergency. They are like
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 5: monsters who succeed in all they do off hand, but
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 5: fail in aught they think over. A thing occurs to
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 5: them at once or never. For them, there is no
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 5: court of appeal. Celerity wins applause because it proves remarkable capacity,
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 5: subtlety of judgment, prudence in action. Fifty seven Slow and sure,
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 5: early enough, if well quickly done, can be quickly undone.
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 5: To last, an eternity requires an eternity of preparation. Only
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 5: excellence counts. Only achievement endures. Profound intelligence is the only
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 5: foundation for immortality. Worth much costs much. The precious metals
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 5: are the heaviest.
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 4: Fifty eight.
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 5: Adapt yourself to your company. There is no need to
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 5: show your ability before everyone. Employ no more force than
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 5: is necessary. Let there be no unnecessary expenditure, either of
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 5: knowledge or of power. The skillful falconer only flies enough
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 5: birds to serve for the chase. If there is too
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 5: much display today, there will be nothing to show tomorrow.
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 5: Always have some novelty wherewith to dazzle, To show something
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 5: fresh each day, keeps expectation alive and conceals the limits
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 5: of capacity. Fifty nine. Finish off well in the house
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 5: of fortune. If you enter by the gate of pleasure,
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 5: you must leave by that of sorrow, and vice versa.
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 5: You ought, therefore, to think of the finish, and attach
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 5: more importance to a graceful exit than to applause on entrance.
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 5: Tis the common law of the unlucky to have a
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 5: very fortunate outset and a very tragic end. The important
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 5: point is not the vulgar applause on entrance that comes
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 5: to nearly all, but the general feeling at exit. Few
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 5: in life are felt to deserve an encore. Fortune rarely
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 5: accompanies any one to the door. Warmly, as she may
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 5: welcome the coming, she speeds, but coldly the parting guest
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 5: sixty a sound judgment. Some are born wise, and with
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 5: this natural advantage, enter upon their studies with a moety,
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 5: already mastered with age and experience. Their reason ripens, and
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 5: thus they attain a sound judgment. They abhor everything whimsical
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 5: as leading prudence astray, especially in matters of state, where
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 5: certainty is so necessary. Owing to the importance of the
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 5: affairs involved, such men deserve to stand by the helm
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 5: of state, either as pilots or as men.
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 2: At the wheel.
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 5: End of section eight, to excel in what is excellent
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 5: a great rarity among excellences. You cannot have a great
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 5: man without something pre eminent. Mediocrates never win applause. Eminence
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 5: in some distinguished post distinguishes one from the vulgar mob
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 5: and ranks us with the elect To be distinguished in
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 5: a small post is to be great in little. The
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 5: more comfort, the less glory. The highest eminence in great
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 5: affairs has the royal characteristic of exciting admiration and winning
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 5: good will.
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 2: Sixty two.
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 5: Use good instruments, some would have the subtlety of their
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 5: wits proven by the meanness of their instruments. Tis a
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 5: dangerous satisfaction and deserves a fatal punishment. The excellence of
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 5: a minister never diminished the greatness of his lord. All
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 5: the glory of exploits reverts to the principal actor. Also
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 5: all the blame. Fame only does business with principles. She
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 5: does not say this had good that had bad servants,
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 5: But this was a good artist, that a bad one.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 5: Let your assistance be selected and tested therefore, for you
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 5: have to trust to them for an immortality of fame.
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 2: Sixty three.
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 5: To be the first of the kind is an excellence,
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 5: and to be eminent in it as well a double one.
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 5: To have the first move is a great advantage when
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 5: the players are equal. Many a man would have been
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 5: a veritable phoenix if he had been the first of
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 5: the sort. Those who come first are the heirs of fame.
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 5: The others get only a younger brother's allowance. Whatever they do,
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 5: they cannot persuade the world. They are anything more than parrots.
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 5: The skill of prodigies may find a new path to eminence,
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 5: but prudence accompanies them all the way. By the novelty
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 5: of their enterprises, sage write their names in the Golden
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 5: Book of heroes. Some prefer to be first in things
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 5: of minor import then second in greater exploits.
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 2: Sixty four.
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 5: Avoid worry. Such prudence brings its own reward. It escapes much,
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 5: and is thus the midwife of comfort and so of happiness.
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 5: Neither give nor take bad news unless it can help.
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 5: Some men's ears are stuffed with the sweets of flattery,
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 5: others with the bitters of scandal. While some cannot live
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 5: without a daily annoyance, no more than Mithradates could without poison.
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 5: It is no rule of life to prepare for yourself
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 5: lifelong trouble in order to give a temper rary enjoyment
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 5: to another. However near and dear, you never ought to
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 5: spoil your own chances to please another who advises and
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 5: keeps out of the affair. And in all cases where
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 5: to oblige another involves disobliging yourself. Tis a standing rule
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 5: that it is better he should suffer now than you afterwards.
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 5: And in Vain sixty five elevated taste, you can train
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 5: it like the intellect. Full knowledge Wett's desire and increases enjoyment.
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 5: You may know a noble spirit by the elevation of
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 5: his taste. It must be a great thing that can
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 5: satisfy a great mind. Big bites for big mouths, lofty
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 5: things for lofty spirits before their judgment, the bravest tremble,
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 5: the most perfect lose confidence. Things of the first importance
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 5: are few. Let appreciation be rare. Taste can be imparted
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 5: by inter course. Great good luck. To associate with the
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 5: highest taste, but do not affect. To be dissatisfied with
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 5: everything tis the extreme of folly, and more odious if
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 5: from affectation than if from quicksitree. Some would have God
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 5: create another world and other ideals to satisfy their fantastic imagination.
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 6: Sixty six.
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 5: See the things end well. Some regard more the rigor
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 5: of the game than the winning of it. But to
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 5: the world, the discredit of the final failure does away
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 5: with any recognition of the previous care. The victor need
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 5: not explain. The world does not notice the details of
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 5: the measures employed, but only the good or ill result.
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 5: You lose nothing if you gain your end. A good
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 5: end gilds everything, however unsatisfactory the means. Thus, at times
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 5: it is part of the art of life to transgress
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 5: the rules of the art. If you cannot end well
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 5: otherwise sixty seven. Prefer callings and evidence. Most things depend
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 5: on the satisfaction of others. Esteem is to excellence what
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 5: the zephyr is to flowers, the breath of life. There
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 5: are some callings which gain universal esteem, while others, more
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 5: important are without credit. The former, pursued before the eyes
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 5: of all, obtain the universal favor. The others, though they
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 5: are rarer and more valuable, remain obscure and unperceived, honored
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 5: but not applauded. Among princes, conquerors are the most celebrated,
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 5: and therefore the kings of Aragon earn such applause as warriors, conquerors,
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 5: and great men. An able man will prefer callings and
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 5: evidence which all men know of and utilize, and he
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 5: thus becomes mortalized by universal suffrage.
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 2: Sixty eight.
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 5: It is better to help with intelligence than with memory,
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 5: the more as the latter needs only recollection the former vous.
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 5: Many persons omit the apropos because it does not occur
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 5: to them. A friend's advice on such occasions may enable
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 5: them to see the advantages. Tis one of the greatest
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 5: gifts of mind. To be able to offer what is
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 5: needed at the moment. For want of that many things
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 5: fail to be performed. Share the light of your intelligence
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 5: when you have any, and ask for it when you
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 5: have it. Not the first cautiously, the last anxiously. Give
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 5: no more than a hint. This finesse is especially needful
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 5: when it touches the interest of him whose attention you awaken.
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 5: You should give but a taste at first, and then
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 5: pass on to more when that is not sufficient. If
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 5: he thinks no, go in search of yes. Therein lies
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 5: the cleverness. For most things are not obtained simply because
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 5: they are not attempted. Sixty nine. He is a great
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 5: man who never allows himself to be influenced by the
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 5: impressions of others. Self reflection is the school of wisdom.
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 5: To know one's disposition and to allow for it, even
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 5: going to the other extreme, so as to find the
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 5: just milieu between nature and art. Self knowledge is the
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 5: beginning of self improvement. There be some whose humors are
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 5: so monstrous that they are always under the influence of
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 5: one or the other of them, and put them in
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 5: place of their real inclinations. They are torn asunder by
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 5: such disharmony and get involved in contradictory obligations. Such excesses
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 5: not only destroy firmness of will, all power of judgment
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 5: gets lost, desire and knowledge pulling in opposite directions. Seventy
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 5: know how to refuse one ought, not to give way
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 5: in everything, nor to everybody. To know how to refuse
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 5: is therefore as important as to know how to consent.
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 5: This is especially the case with men of position. All
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 5: depends on the how some men's know is thought of
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 5: more than the yes of others. For a gilded no
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 5: is more satisfactory than a dry yes. There are some
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 5: who always have no on their lips, whereby they make
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 5: everything distasteful. No always comes first with them, and when
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 5: sometimes they give way, after all, it does them no
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 5: good on account of the unpleasing herald. Your refusal need
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 5: not be point blank. Let the disappointment come by degrees.
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 5: Nor let the refusal be final. That would be to
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 5: destroy dependence. Let some spice of hope remain to soften
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 5: the rejection. Let politeness compensate, and fine words supply the
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 5: place of deeds. Yes and no are soon said, But
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 5: give much to think over. End of Section nine. Do
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 5: not vacillate. Let not your actions be abnormal, either from
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 5: disposition or affectation. An able man is always the same
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 5: in his best qualities. He gets the credit of trustworthiness.
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 5: If he changes, he does so for good reason or
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 5: good consideration. In matters of conduct, change is hateful. There
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 5: are some who are different every day. Their intelligence varies
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 5: still more their will, and with this their fortune. Yesterday's
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 5: white is today's black, today's no was yesterday's yes. They
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 5: always give the lie to their own credit and destroy
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 5: their credit with others.
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 2: Seventy two.
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 5: Be resolute. Bad execution of your design does less harm
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 5: than irresolution informing them. Streams do less harm flowing than
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 5: when dammed up. There are some men so infirm of
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 5: purpose that they always require direction from others, and this
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 5: not on account of any perplexity, for they judge clearly,
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 5: but from sheer incapacity for action. It needs some skill
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 5: to find out difficulties, but more to find a way
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 5: out of them. There are others who are never in straits.
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 5: Their clear judgment and determined character fit them for the
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 5: highest callings. Their intelligence tells them where to insert the
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 5: thin end of the wedge, their resolution how to drive
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 5: it home. They soon get through anything. As soon as
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 5: they have done with one sphere of action, they are
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 5: ready for another. A fiance to fortune, they make themselves
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 5: sure of success.
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 2: Seventy three.
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 5: Utilize slips. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 5: They extricate themselves from the most intricate labyrinth by some
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 5: witty application of a bright remark. They get out of
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 5: a serious contention by an airing nothing, or by raising
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 5: a smile. Most of the great leaders are well grounded
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 5: in this art. When you have to refuse, it is
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 5: often the polite way to talk of something else. Sometimes
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 5: it proves the highest understanding not to understand. Seventy four.
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 5: Do not be unsociable. The truest wild beasts live in
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 5: the most populous places. To be inaccessible is the fault
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 5: of those who distrust themselves, whose honors change their manners.
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 5: It is no way of earning people's good will by
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 5: being ill tempered with them. It is a sight to
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 5: see one of those unsociable monsters who make a point
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 5: of being proudly impertinent. Their dependents, who have the misfortune
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 5: to be obliged to speak with them, enter as if
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 5: prepared for a fight with a tiger. Armed with patience
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 5: and with fear. Do obtain their posts. These persons must
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 5: have ingratiated themselves with every one, but having once subtained it,
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 5: they seek to indemnify themselves by disobliging all. It is
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 5: a condition of their position that they should be accessible
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 5: to all, yet from pride or spleen they are so
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 5: to none. Tis a civil way to punish such men
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 5: by letting them alone and depriving them of opportunities of improvement,
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 5: by granting them no opportunity of intercourse Seventy five. Choose
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 5: an heroic ideal, but rather to emulate than to imitate.
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 5: There are exemplars of greatness, living texts of honor. Let
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 5: every one have before his mind the chief of his calling,
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 5: not so much to follow him as to spur himself on.
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 5: Alexander wept not on account of Achilles, dead and buried,
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 5: but over himself, because his fame had not yet spread
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 5: throughout the world. Nothing arouses ambition so much in the
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 5: heart as the trumpet clang of another's fame. The same
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 5: thing that sharpens envy nourishes a generous spirit Seventy six.
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 5: Do not always be jesting. Wisdom is shown in serious matters,
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 5: and is more appreciated than mere wit. He that is
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 5: always ready for jests is never ready for serious things.
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 5: They resemble liars, and that men never believe either, always
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 5: expecting a lie in one a joke in the other.
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 5: One never knows when you speak with judgment which is
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 5: the same as if you had none. A continual jest
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 5: soon loses all zest. Many get the rapture of being witty,
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 5: but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 5: its little hour, seriousness should have all the rest. Seventy
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 5: seven be all things to all men, a discreet proteus,
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 5: learned with the learned, saintly with the sainted. It is
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 5: the great art to gain everyone's suffrages their good will,
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 5: gains general agreement. Notice men's moods, and adapt yourself to each,
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 5: genial or serious, as the case may be, follow their lead,
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 5: glossing over the changes as cunningly as possible. This is
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 5: an indispensable art for dependent persons. But this savoir faire
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 5: calls for great cleverness. He only will find no difficulty
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 5: who has a universal genius in his knowledge and universal
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 5: ingenuity in his wit. Seventy eight the art of undertaking things.
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 5: Fools rush in through the door, for folly is always bold.
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 5: The same simplicity which robs them of all attention to precautions,
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 5: deprives them of all sense of shame at failure. But
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 5: prudence enters with more deliberation. Its forerunners are caution and care,
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 5: they advance and discover whether you can also advance without danger.
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 5: Every rush forward is freed from danger by caution, while
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 5: fortune sometimes helps. In such cases, step cautiously where you
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 5: suspect depth, sagacity goes cautiously forward, while precaution covers the ground.
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 5: Nowadays there are unsuspected depths in human intercourse. You must
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 5: therefore cast the lead at every step. Seventy nine. A
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 5: genial disposition, if with moderation, is an accomplishment, not a defect.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 5: A grain of gaiety seasons all the greatest men join
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 5: in the fun at times, and it makes them liked
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 5: by all. But they should always, on such occasions preserve
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 5: their dignity, nor go beyond the bounds of decorum. Others again,
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 5: get themselves out of difficulty quickest by a joke, For
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 5: there are things you must take in fun, though others
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 5: perhaps mean them. In earnest you show a sense of placability,
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 5: which acts as a magnet on all hearts. Eighty take
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 5: care to get information. We live by information, not by sight.
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 5: We exist by faith in others. The ear is the
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 5: area gate of truth, but the front door of lies.
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 5: The truth is generally seen rarely heard. Seldom she comes
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 5: in elemental purity, especially from Afar. There is always some
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 5: admixture of the moods of those through whom she has passed,
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 5: the passions tinge her with their colors wherever they touch her,
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 5: sometimes favorably, sometimes the reverse. She always brings out the disposition. Therefore,
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 5: receive her with caution from him that praises, with more
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 5: caution from him that blames. Pay attention to the intention
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 5: of the speaker. You should know beforehand on what footing
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 5: he comes. Let reflection a say, falsity and exaggeration. End
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 5: of Section ten. Renew your brilliance tis the privilege of
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 5: the phoenix. Ability is wont to grow old and with
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 5: it fame. The staleness of custom weakens admiration, and a
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 5: mediocrity that's new often eclipses the highest excellence grown old. Try, therefore,
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 5: to be born again in valor ingenious in fortune. In
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 5: all display, startling novelties rise afresh like the sun.
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 4: Every day.
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 5: Change to the scene on which you shine, so that
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 5: your loss may be felt in the old scenes of
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 5: your triumph, while the novelty of your powers wins you
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 5: applause in the new. Eighty two drain nothing to the dregs,
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 5: neither good nor ill. A sage once reduced all virtue
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 5: to the golden Mian. Push right to the extreme and
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 5: it becomes wrong. Press all the juice from an orange,
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 5: and it becomes bitter. Even in enjoyment, never go to extremes.
• 1:56:52
  Speaker 5: Thought too subtle is dull. If you milk a cow
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 5: too much, you draw blood, not milk. Eighty three, allow
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 5: yourself some venial fault. Some such carelessness is often the
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 5: greatest recommendation of talent. For envy exercises ostracism, most envenomed,
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 5: when most polite. It counts a too perfection as a
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 5: failing that it has no faults. For being perfect in all,
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 5: it condemns it. In all it becomes an argus all
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 5: eyes for imperfection tis its only consolation. Blame is like
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 5: the lightning, It hits the highest. Let Homer nod now
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 5: and then and affect some negligence in valor or in intellect,
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 5: not in prudence, so as to disarm malevolence, or at
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 5: least to prevent its bursting with its own venom. You
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 5: thus leave your cloak on the horns of envy, in
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 5: order to save your immortal parts eighty four, make use
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 5: of your enemies. You should learn to seize things not
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 5: by the blade which cuts, but by the handle which
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 5: saves you from harm. Especially, is this the rule with
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 5: the doings of your enemies. A wise man gets more
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 5: use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 5: Their ill will often levels mountains of difficulties which one
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 5: would otherwise not face. Many have had their greatness made
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 5: for them by their enemies. Flattery is more dangerous than hatred,
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 5: because it covers the stains which the other causes to
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 5: be wiped out. The wise will turn ill will into
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 5: a mirror more faithful than that of kindness, and remove
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 5: or improve the faults referred to. Caution thrives well when
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 5: rivalry and ill will are next door neighbors. Eighty five
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 5: Do not play Manville. It is a fault of excellence that,
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 5: being so much in use, it is liable to abuse.
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 5: Because all covet it, all are vexed by it. It
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 5: is a great misfortune to be of use to nobody,
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 5: scarcely less to be of use to everybody. People who
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 5: reach this stage lose by gaining, and at last bore
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 5: those who desired them. Before these manils wear away all
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 5: kinds of excellence, losing the earlier esteem of the few,
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 5: they obtain discredit among the vulgar. The remedy against this
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 5: extreme is to moderate your brilliance. Be extraordinary in your excellence,
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 5: if you like, but be ordinary in your display of it.
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 5: The more light a torch gives, the more it burns away,
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 5: and the narratives to going out. Show yourself less, and
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 5: you will be rewarded by being esteemed more. Eighty six.
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 5: Prevent scandal. Many heads go to make the mob, and
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 5: in each of them are eyes for malice to use,
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 5: and a tongue for detraction to wag. If a single
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 5: ill report spread, it casts a blemish on your fair fame,
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 5: and if it clings to you with a nickname, your
• 1:59:58
  Speaker 5: reputation is in danger. Generally, it is some salient defect
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 5: or ridiculous trait that gives rise to the rumors. At times,
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 5: these are malicious additions of private envy to general distrust,
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 5: For there are wicked tongues that ruin a great reputation
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 5: more easily by a witty sneer than by a direct accusation.
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 5: It is easy to get into bad repute because it
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 5: is easy to believe evil of any one, it is
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 5: not easy to clear yourself. The wise accordingly avoid these mischances.
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 5: Guarding against vulgar scandal with sedulous vigilance. It is far
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 5: easier to prevent than to rectify. Eighty seven. Culture and elegance.
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 5: Man is a born barbarian, and only raises himself above
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 5: the beast by culture. Culture therefore makes the man, the
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 5: more a man, the higher. Thanks to it, Greece could
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 5: call the rest of the world barbarians. Ignorance is very raw.
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 5: Nothing contributes so much to culture as knowledge, But even
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 5: knowledge is coarse if without elegance. Not alone must our
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 5: intelligence be elegant, but our desires and above all our conversation.
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 5: Some men are naturally elegant in internal and external qualities,
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 5: in their thoughts, in their address, in their dress, which
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 5: is the rind of the soul, and in their talents,
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 5: which is its fruit. There are others, on the other hand,
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 5: so ghosh that everything about them, even their very excellencies,
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 5: is tarnished by an intolerable and barbaric want of neatness.
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 5: Eighty eight Let your behavior be fine and noble. A
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 5: great man ought not to be little in his behavior.
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 5: He ought never to pry to minutely into things, least
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 5: of all in unpleasant matters. For though it is important
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 5: to know all, it is not necessary to know all
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 5: about all. One ought to act in such cases with
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 5: the generosity of a gentleman, conduct worthy of a gallant man.
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 5: To overlook forms a large part of the work of ruling.
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 5: Most things must be left unnoticed among relatives and friends,
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 5: and even among enemies. All superfluity is annoying, especially in
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 5: things that annoy To keep hovering around the object of
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 5: your annoyance is a kind of mania. Generally speaking, every
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 5: man behaves according to his heart and his understanding.
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 2: Eighty nine.
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 5: Know yourself in talents and capacity, in judgment and inclination.
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 5: You cannot master yourself unless you know yourself. There are
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 5: mirrors for the face.
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 2: But none for the mind.
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 5: Let careful thought about yourself serve as a substitute when
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 5: the outer image is forgotten. Keep the inner one to
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 5: improve and perfect. Learn the force of your intellect and
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 5: capacity for affairs. Test the force of your courage in
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 5: order to apply it, and keep your foundation secure and
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 5: your head clear for everything. Eighty The secret of long life.
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 5: Lead a good life. Two things bring life speedily to
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 5: an end folly and immorality. Some lose their life because
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 5: they have not the intelligence to keep it, others because
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 5: they have not the will. Just as virtue is its
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 5: own reward, so is vice its own punishment. He who
• 2:03:29
  Speaker 5: lives a fast life runs through life. In a double sense,
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 5: a virtuous life never dies. The firmness of the soul
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 5: is communicated to the body, and a good life is long,
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 5: not only in intention but also in extension. End of
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 5: Section eleven. Never set to work at anything if you
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 5: have any doubts of its prudence. A suspicion of failure
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 5: in the mind of the doer is proof positive of
• 2:03:59
  Speaker 5: it in that of the awe looker, especially if he
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 5: is a rival. If in the heat of action, your
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 5: judgment feels scruples, it will afterwards, in cool reflection, condemn
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 5: it as a piece of folly. Action is dangerous where
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 5: prudence is in doubt. Better leave such things alone. Wisdom
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 5: does not trust to probabilities. It always marches in the
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 5: mid day light of reason. How can an enterprise succeed
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 5: which the judgment condemns as soon as conceived? And if
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 5: resolutions past Nam Khan by inner court often turn out unfortunately.
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 5: What can we expect of those undertaken by a doubting
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 5: reason and a vacillating judgment? Ninety two Transcendent wisdom I
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 5: mean in everything, the first and highest rule of all
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 5: deed and speech. The more necessary to be followed, the
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 5: higher and more numerous our posts is. An ounce of
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 5: wisdom is worth more than tons of cleverness. It is
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 5: the only sure way, though it may not gain so
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 5: much applause. The reputation of wisdom is the last triumph
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 5: of fame. It is enough if you satisfy the wise,
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 5: for their judgment is the touchstone of true success. Ninety
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 5: three Versatility. A man of many excellences equals many men.
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 5: By imparting his own enjoyment of life to his circle,
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 5: he enriches their life. Variety in excellences is.
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 2: The delight of life. It is a great art to
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 2: profit by all that is good.
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 5: And since Nature has made man in his highest development
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 5: and abstract of herself, so let art create in him
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 5: a true microcosm by training his taste and intellect. Ninety
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 5: four Keep the extent of your abilities unknown. The wise
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 5: man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 5: sounded to the bottom. If he desires to be honored
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 5: by all, he allows you to know them, but not
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 5: to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 5: his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 5: an opportunity of fathoming him entirely, for guesses and doubts
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 5: about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 5: accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great. Ninety
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 5: five Keep expectation alive, keep stirring it up. Let much
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 5: promise more and great deeds herald greater. Do not rest
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 5: your whole fortune on a single cast of the die.
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 5: It requires great skill to moderate your forces so as
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 5: to keep expectation from being dissipated. Ninety six the highest discretion.
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 5: It is the throne of reason, the foundation of prudence.
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 5: By its means, success is gained at little cost. It
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 5: is a gift from above, and should be prayed for
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 5: as the first and best quality tis the main piece
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 5: of the panoply, and so important that its absence makes
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 5: a man imperfect. Whereas with other qualities, it is merely
• 2:07:20
  Speaker 5: a question of more or less. All the actions of
• 2:07:23
  Speaker 5: life depend on its application, all require its assistance. For
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 5: everything needs intelligence. Discretion consists in a natural tendency to
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 5: the most rational course, combined with a liking for the surest.
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 5: Ninety seven obtain and preserve a reputation. It is the
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 5: usufrct of fame. It is expensive to obtain a reputation,
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 5: for it only attaches to distinguished abilities, which are as
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 5: rare as mediocrities are common. Once obtained, it is easily preserved.
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 5: It confers many an other obligation. But it does more
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 5: when it is owing to elevated powers or lofty spheres
• 2:08:05
  Speaker 5: of action.
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 2: It rises to a kind.
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 5: Of veneration and yields a sort of majesty. But it
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 5: is only a well founded reputation that lasts permanently. Ninety
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 5: eight Write your intentions in cipher. The passions are the
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 5: gates of the soul. The most practical knowledge consists in
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 5: disguising them. He that plays with cards exposed runs a
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 5: risk of losing the stakes. The reserve of caution should
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 5: combat the curiosity of inquirers. Adopt the policy of the cuttlefish.
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 5: Do not even let your tastes be known, lest others
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 5: utilize them, either by running counter to them or by
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 5: flattering them.
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 2: Ninety nine.
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 5: Reality and appearance. Things pass for what they seem, not
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 5: for what they are. Few see inside, many take to
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 5: the outside. It is not enough to be right if
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 5: right seem false and ill one hundred A man without illusions,
• 2:09:10
  Speaker 5: a wise Christian, a philosophic courtier. Be all these not
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 5: merely seem to be them, still less affect to be them.
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 5: Philosophy is nowadays discredited, but yet it was always the
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 5: chiefest concern of the wise. The art of thinking has
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 5: lost all its former repute. Seneca introduced it at Rome.
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 5: It went to court for some time, but now it
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 5: is considered out of place there. And yet the discovery
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 5: of deceit was always thought the true nourishment of a
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 5: thoughtful mind, the true delight of a virtuous soul. End
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 5: of Section twelve. One half of the world laughs at
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 5: the other, And fools are they? All everything is good
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 5: or everything is bad, according to the votes they gain,
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 5: what one pursues and other persecutes. He is an insufferable
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 5: ass that would regulate everything according to his ideas. Excellences
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 5: do not depend on a single man's pleasure. So many men,
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 5: so many tastes, all different. There is no defect which
• 2:10:16
  Speaker 5: is not affected by some.
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 2: Nor need we.
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 5: Lose heart if things please not some, for others will
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 5: appreciate them, nor need their applause. Turn our head, for
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 5: there will be surely others to condemn. The real test
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 5: of praise is the approbation of famous men and of
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 5: experts in the matter. You should aim to be independent
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 5: of any one vote, of any one fashion, of any
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 5: one century one hundred and two, be able to stomach
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 5: big slices of luck in the body of wisdom. Not
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 5: the least important organ is a big stomach, For great
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 5: capacity implies great parts. Big bits of luck do not
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 5: embarrass one who can digest still bigger ones. What is
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 5: a surfeit for one may be hunger for another. Many
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 5: are troubled, as it were, with weak digestion owing to
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 5: their small capacity, being neither born nor trained for great employment,
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 5: Their actions turn sour, and the humors that arise from
• 2:11:16
  Speaker 5: their undeserved honors turn their head, and they incur great
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 5: risks in high place. They do not find their proper place,
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 5: for luck finds no proper place in them. A man
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 5: of talent, therefore, should know that he has more room
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 5: for even greater enterprises, and above all avoid showing signs
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 5: of a little heart. One hundred three. Let each keep
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 5: up his dignity. Let each deed of a man in
• 2:11:44
  Speaker 5: its degree, though he be not a king, be worthy
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 5: of a prince, And let his action be princely within
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 5: due limits, sublime in action, lofty in thought, in all things,
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 5: like a king, at least in merit, if not in might.
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 5: For true kingship lies in spotless rectitude, and he need
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 5: not envy greatness. Who can serve as a model of it.
• 2:12:09
  Speaker 5: Especially should those near the throne aim at true superiority
• 2:12:13
  Speaker 5: and prefer to share the true qualities of royalty rather
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 5: than take parts in its mere ceremonies, yet without affecting
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 5: its imperfections, but sharing in its true dignity. One hundred
• 2:12:27
  Speaker 5: and four. Try your hand at office. It requires varied qualities,
• 2:12:33
  Speaker 5: and to know which is needed taxes, attention and calls
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 5: for masterly discernment. Some demand courage, others tact. Those that
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 5: merely require rectitude are the easiest, the most difficult those
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 5: requiring cleverness. For the former, all that is necessary is character.
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 5: For the latter, all one's attention and zeal may not suffice.
• 2:12:57
  Speaker 5: 'tis a troublesome business to rule men still more fools
• 2:13:01
  Speaker 5: or blockheads. Double sense is needed with those who have none.
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 5: It is intolerable when an office engrosses a man with
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 5: fixed hours and a settled routine. Those are better that
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 5: leave a man free to follow his own devices. Combining
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 5: variety with importance for the change refreshes the mind. The
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 5: most in repute are those that have least or most
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 5: distant dependence on others. The worst is that which worries
• 2:13:30
  Speaker 5: us both here and hereafter one hundred and five. Don't
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 5: be a bore. The man of one business or of
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 5: one topic is apt to be heavy. Brevity flatters and
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 5: does better business. It gains by courtesy what it loses
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 5: by curtness. Good things when short, are twice as good.
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 5: The quintessence of the matter is more effective than a
• 2:13:55
  Speaker 5: whole farrago of details. It is a well known truth
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 5: that pocket of folk rarely have much sense, whether in
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 5: dealing with the matter itself or its formal treatment. There
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 5: are that serve more for stumbling stones than centerpieces useless lumber.
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 5: In every one's way, the wise avoid being bores, especially
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 5: to the great who are fully occupied. It is worse
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 5: to disturb one of them, than all the rest well
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 5: said is soon said. One hundred and six. Do not
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 5: parade your position to outshine Indignity is more offensive than
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 5: in personal attractions. To pose as a personage is to
• 2:14:37
  Speaker 5: be hated. Envy is surely enough. The more you seek esteem,
• 2:14:42
  Speaker 5: the less you obtain it, For it depends on the
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 5: opinion of others. You cannot take it, but must earn
• 2:14:49
  Speaker 5: and receive it from others. Great positions require an amount
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 5: of authority sufficient to make them efficient. Without it, they
• 2:14:58
  Speaker 5: cannot be adequately filled. Preserve therefore enough dignity to carry
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 5: on the duties of the office. Do not enforce respect,
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 5: but try and create it. Those who insist on the
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 5: dignity of their office show they have not deserved it,
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 5: and that it is too much for them. If you
• 2:15:16
  Speaker 5: wish to be valued, be valued for your talents, not
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 5: for anything adventitious. Even kings prefer to be honored for
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 5: their personal qualifications rather than for their station.
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 2: One O. Seven.
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 5: Show no self satisfaction. You must neither be discontented with yourself,
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 5: and that were poor spirited nor self satisfied, and that
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 5: is folly. Self satisfaction arises mostly from ignorance. It would
• 2:15:48
  Speaker 5: be a happy ignorance, not without its advantages, if it
• 2:15:51
  Speaker 5: did not injure our credit. Because a man cannot achieve
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 5: the superlative perfections of others, he contents himself with any
• 2:15:59
  Speaker 5: mediocre talent of his own. Distrust is wise and even useful,
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 5: either to evade mishaps or to afford consolation when they come.
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 5: For a misfortune cannot surprise a man who has already
• 2:16:12
  Speaker 5: feared it. Even Homer nods at times, and Alexander fell
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 5: from his lofty state and out of his illusions. Things
• 2:16:21
  Speaker 5: depend on many circumstances. What constitutes triumph in one set
• 2:16:26
  Speaker 5: may cause a defeat in another. In the midst of all,
• 2:16:30
  Speaker 5: incorrigible folly remains the same with empty self satisfaction, blossoming, flowering,
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 5: and running all to seed one O eight. The path
• 2:16:42
  Speaker 5: to greatness is along with others intercourse works, well, manners,
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 5: and taste are shared. Good sense, and even talent grow insensibly.
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 5: Let the sanguine man then make a comrade of the lymphatic,
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 5: and so with the other temperaments, so that without any forcing,
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 5: the golden mean is obtained. It is a great art
• 2:17:03
  Speaker 5: to agree with others. The alternation of contraries beautifies and
• 2:17:08
  Speaker 5: sustains the world. If it can cause harmony in the
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 5: physical world, still more can it do so in the
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 5: moral Adopt this policy in the choice of friends and defendants.
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 5: By joining extremes, the more effective middle way is found.
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 2: One O nine.
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 5: Be not censorious. There are men of gloomy character who
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 5: regard everything as faulty, not from any evil motive, but
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 5: because it is their nature to They condemn all these
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 5: for what they have done, those for what they will do.
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 5: This indicates a nature worse than cruel vile. Indeed, they
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 5: accuse with such exaggeration that they make out of moats
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 5: beams wherewith to force out the eyes. They are always taskmasters,
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 5: who could turn a paradise into a prison. If passion
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 5: and intervenes, they drive matters to the extreme. A noble nature,
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 5: on the contrary, always knows how to find an excuse
• 2:18:07
  Speaker 5: for failings, if not in the intention, at least from oversight.
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 2: One ten.
• 2:18:15
  Speaker 5: Do not wait till you are a sinking sun. Tis
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 5: a maxim of the wise. To leave things before things
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 5: leave them. One should be able to snatch a triumph
• 2:18:25
  Speaker 5: at the end, just as the sun, even at its
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 5: brightest often retires behind a cloud, so as not to
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 5: be seen sinking, and to leave in doubt whether he
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 5: has sunk or no. Wisely withdraw from the chance of mishaps,
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 5: lest you have to do so from the reality. Do
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 5: not wait till they turn you the cold shoulder and
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 5: carry you to the grave, alive in feeling, but dead
• 2:18:49
  Speaker 5: in esteem. Wise trainers put racers to grass before they
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 5: arouse derision by falling on the course. A beauty should
• 2:18:58
  Speaker 5: break her mirror early, lest she do so later with
• 2:19:02
  Speaker 5: open eyes. End of Section thirteen. Have friends tis a
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 5: second existence. Every friend is good and wise. For his
• 2:19:14
  Speaker 5: friend among them, all everything turns to good. Everyone is
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 5: as others wish him. That they may wish him well,
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 5: he must win their hearts and sow their tongues. There
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 5: is no magic like a good turn, And the way
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 5: to gain friendly feelings is to do friendly acts. The
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 5: most and best of us depend on others. We have
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 5: to live either among friends or among enemies. Seek someone
• 2:19:40
  Speaker 5: every day to be a well wisher, if not a friend,
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 5: by and by after trial, some of these will become intimate.
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 2: One twelve.
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 5: Gain good will for thus the first and highest cause
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 5: foresees and furthers the greatest objects. By gaining their good will,
• 2:20:01
  Speaker 5: you gain men's good opinion. Some trust so much to
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 5: merit that they neglect grace. But wise men know that
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 5: service road without a lift from favor is a long way. Indeed,
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 5: good will facilitates and supplies everything it supposes, gifts, or
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 5: even supplies them as courage, zeal, knowledge, or even discretion.
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 5: Whereas defects it will not see because it does not
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 5: search for them. It arises from some common interest, either
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 5: material as disposition, nationality, relationship, fatherland, office, or formal, which
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 5: is a higher kind of communion in capacity, obligation, reputation,
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 5: or merit. The whole difficulty is to gain good will.
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 2: To keep it is easy.
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 5: It has, however, to be sought for.
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 2: And when found to be utilized.
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 5: One thirteen. In prosperity, prepare for adversity. It is both
• 2:21:01
  Speaker 5: wiser and easier to collect winter stores in summer. In prosperity,
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 5: favors are cheap, and friends are many. Tis well. Therefore
• 2:21:10
  Speaker 5: to keep them for more unlucky days. For adversity costs
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 5: dear and has no helpers retain a store of friendly
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 5: and obliged persons. The day may come when their price
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 5: will go up. Low minds never have friends. In luck,
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 5: they will not recognize them. In misfortune, they will not
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 5: be recognized by them. Fourteen Never compete. Every competition damages
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 5: the credit. Our rivals seize occasion to obscure us so
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 5: as to outshine us. Few wage honorable war. Rivalry discloses
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 5: faults which courtesy would hide. Many have lived in good
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 5: repute while they had no rivals. The heat of conflict
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 5: gives life or even new life, to dead scandals and
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 5: digs up long buried skeletons. Competition begins with the belittling
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 5: and seeks aid wherever it can, not only where it ought.
• 2:22:09
  Speaker 5: And when the weapons of abuse do not affect their
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 5: purpose as often or mostly happens our opponents, use them
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 5: for revenge, and use them at least for beating away
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 5: the dust of oblivion from anything to our discredit. Men
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 5: of good will are always at peace. Men of good
• 2:22:28
  Speaker 5: repute and dignity are men of good will.
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 2: Fifteen.
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 5: Get used to the failings of your familiars as you
• 2:22:37
  Speaker 5: do to ugly faces. It is indispensable if they depend
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 5: on us or we on them. There are wretched characters
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 5: with whom one cannot live, yet not without them. Therefore,
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 5: clever folks get used to them as to ugly faces,
• 2:22:53
  Speaker 5: so that they are not obliged to do so suddenly,
• 2:22:56
  Speaker 5: under the pressure of necessity. At first they arouse discuss,
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 5: but gradually they lose this influence, and reflection provides for
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 5: disgust or puts up with it. Sixteen. Only act with
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 5: honorable men. You can trust them and they you. Their
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 5: honor is the best surety of their behavior, even in misunderstandings,
• 2:23:20
  Speaker 5: for they always act having regard to what they are. Hence,
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 5: tis better to have a dispute with honorable people than
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 5: to have a victory over dishonorable ones. You cannot treat
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 5: with the ruined, for they have no hostages for rectitude.
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 5: With them, there is no true friendship, and their agreements
• 2:23:40
  Speaker 5: are not binding, however stringent they may appear, because they
• 2:23:43
  Speaker 5: have no feeling of honor. Never have to do with
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 5: such men. For if honor does not restrain a man,
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 5: virtue will not, since honor is the throne of rectitude.
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 5: Seventeen Never talk of yourself. You must either praise yourself,
• 2:24:03
  Speaker 5: which is vain, or blame yourself, which is little minded.
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 5: It ill beseems him that speaks, and ill pleases him
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 5: that hears. And if you should avoid this in ordinary conversation,
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 5: how much more in official matters, and above all in
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 5: public speaking, where every appearance of unwisdom really is unwise.
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 5: The same want of tact lies in speaking of a
• 2:24:27
  Speaker 5: man in his presence, owing to the danger of going
• 2:24:30
  Speaker 5: to one of two extremes flattery or censure.
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 2: Eighteen.
• 2:24:36
  Speaker 5: Acquire the reputation of courtesy, for it is enough to
• 2:24:41
  Speaker 5: make you liked. Politeness is the main ingredient of culture,
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 5: a kind of witchery that wins the regard of all
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 5: as surely as discourtesy gains their disfavor and opposition. If
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 5: this latter springs from pride, it is abominable, and if
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 5: from bad breeding it is despicable. Better too much courtesy
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 5: than too little, provided it be not the same for
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 5: all which degenerates into injustice between opponents. It is especially
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 5: due as a proof of valor. It costs little and
• 2:25:15
  Speaker 5: helps much. Everyone is honored who gives honor. Politeness and
• 2:25:21
  Speaker 5: honor have this advantage that they remain with him who
• 2:25:24
  Speaker 5: displays them to others.
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 2: Nineteen.
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 5: Avoid becoming disliked. There is no occasion to seek dislike
• 2:25:35
  Speaker 5: it comes without seeking quickly enough. There are many who
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 5: hate of their own accord, without knowing the why or
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 5: the how. Their ill will outruns our readiness to please.
• 2:25:47
  Speaker 5: Their ill nature is more prone to do others harm
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 5: than their cupidity is eager to gain advantage for themselves.
• 2:25:55
  Speaker 5: Some manage to be on bad terms with all because
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 5: they always either produce or experience vexation of spirit. Once
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 5: hate has taken root, it is like bad repute, difficult
• 2:26:07
  Speaker 5: to eradicate. Wise men are feared, the malevolent are abhorred,
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 5: the arrogant are regarded with disdain, buffoons with contempt, eccentrics
• 2:26:19
  Speaker 5: with neglect. Therefore, pay respect that you may be respected,
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 5: and know that to be esteemed you must show esteem.
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 2: One twenty.
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 5: Live practically. Even knowledge has to be in the fashion,
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 5: and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.
• 2:26:40
  Speaker 5: Thought and taste change with the times. Do not be
• 2:26:44
  Speaker 5: old fashioned in your ways of thinking, and let your
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 5: taste be in the modern style. In everything, the taste
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 5: of the many carries the votes for the time being.
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 5: One must follow it in the hope of leading it
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 5: to higher things. In the adornment of the body as
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 5: of the mind. Adapt yourself to the present, even though
• 2:27:03
  Speaker 5: the past appear better. But this rule does not apply
• 2:27:07
  Speaker 5: to kindness. For goodness is for all time. It is
• 2:27:12
  Speaker 5: neglected nowadays and seems out of date. Truth speaking, keeping
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 5: your word, and so too. Good people seem to come
• 2:27:20
  Speaker 5: from the good old times. Yet they are liked for
• 2:27:23
  Speaker 5: all that, but in such a way that, even when
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 5: they all exist, they are not in the fashion and
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 5: are not imitated. What a misfortune for our age that
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 5: it regards virtue as a stranger and vice as a
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 5: matter of course. If you are wise, live as you can.
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 5: If you cannot live as you would think more highly
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 5: of what fate has given you than of what it
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 5: has denied. End of Section fourteen. Do not make a
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 5: business of what is no business. As some make gossip
• 2:27:59
  Speaker 5: out of everything, so others business. They always talk big,
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 5: take everything in earnest, and turn it into a dispute
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 5: or secret. Troublesome things must not be taken too seriously,
• 2:28:11
  Speaker 5: if they can be avoided. It is preposterous to take
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 5: to heart that which you should throw over your shoulders.
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 5: Much that would be something has become nothing by being
• 2:28:22
  Speaker 5: left alone and what was nothing has become of consequence
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 5: by being made much of. At the outset, things can
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 5: be easily settled, but not afterwards. Often the remedy causes
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 5: the disease tis by no means the least of life's
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 5: rules to let things alone one hundred twenty two. Distinction
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 5: in speech and action. By this you gain a position
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 5: in many places, and carry esteem beforehand. It shows itself
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 5: in everything, in talk, in look, even in gait. It
• 2:29:00
  Speaker 5: is a great victory to conquer men's hearts. It does
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 5: not arise from any foolish presumption or pompous talk, but
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 5: in a becoming tone of authority, born of superior talent
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 5: combined with true merit one hundred twenty three Avoid affectation.
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 5: The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 5: flavor to all. It is wearisome to others and troublesome
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 5: to the one affected, for he becomes a martyr to
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 5: care and tortures himself with attention. The most eminent merits
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 5: lose most by it, for they appear proud and artificial
• 2:29:39
  Speaker 5: instead of being the product of nature. And the natural
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 5: is always more pleasing than the artificial one always feels
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 5: sure that the man who affects a virtue has it not.
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 5: The more pains you take with a thing, the more
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 5: should you conceal them, so that it may appear to
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 5: arise spontaneously from your own nature utural character. Do not, however,
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 5: in avoiding affectation, fall into it by affecting to be unaffected.
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 5: The sage never seems to know his own merits, for
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 5: only by not noticing them can you call others attention
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 5: to them. He is twice great, who has all the
• 2:30:18
  Speaker 5: perfections in the opinions of all, except of himself. He
• 2:30:22
  Speaker 5: attains applause by two opposite paths one hundred twenty four.
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 5: Get yourself missed. Few reach such favor with the many.
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 5: If with the wise, tis the height of happiness. When
• 2:30:38
  Speaker 5: one has finished one's work. Coldness is the general rule.
• 2:30:42
  Speaker 5: But there are ways of earning this reward of good will.
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 5: The sure way is to excel in your office and talents.
• 2:30:49
  Speaker 5: Add to this agreeable manner, and you reach the point
• 2:30:52
  Speaker 5: where you become necessary to your office, not your office
• 2:30:56
  Speaker 5: to you. Some do honor to their post with others.
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 5: Tis the other way. It is no great gain if
• 2:31:04
  Speaker 5: a poor successor makes the predecessor seem good. For this
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 5: does not imply that the one is missed, but that
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 5: the other is wished away. One hundred twenty five. Do
• 2:31:16
  Speaker 5: not be a blacklist. It is a sign of having
• 2:31:20
  Speaker 5: a tarnished name to concern oneself with the ill fame
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 5: of others. Some wish to hide their own stains with
• 2:31:28
  Speaker 5: those of others, or at least wash them away, or
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 5: they seek consolation. Therein tis the consolation of fools.
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 2: They must have.
• 2:31:37
  Speaker 5: Bad breath, who form the sewers of scandal for the
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 5: whole town. The more one grubs about in such matters,
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 5: the more one befouls oneself. There are few without stain
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 5: somewhere or other.
• 2:31:49
  Speaker 2: But it is of little known.
• 2:31:51
  Speaker 5: People that the failings are little known. Be careful, then,
• 2:31:54
  Speaker 5: to avoid being a registrar of faults, that is, to
• 2:31:58
  Speaker 5: be an abominable thing, a man that lives without a heart.
• 2:32:04
  Speaker 5: One hundred twenty six. Folly consists not in committing folly,
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 5: but in not hiding it. When committed, you should keep
• 2:32:14
  Speaker 5: your desires sealed up. Still more, your defects all go
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 5: wrong sometimes, but the wise try to hide the errors,
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 5: but fools boast of them. Reputation depends more on what
• 2:32:28
  Speaker 5: is hidden than on what is done. If a man
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 5: does not live chastely, he must live cautiously. The errors
• 2:32:36
  Speaker 5: of great men are like the eclipses of the greater lights.
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 5: Even in friendship, it is rare to expose one's failings
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 5: to one's friend. Nay, one should conceal them from one's
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 5: self if one can. But here one can help with
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 5: that other great rule of life, learn to forget. One
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 5: hundred twenty seven. Grace in everything tis the life of talents,
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 5: the breath of speech, the soul of action, and the
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 5: ornament of ornament. Perfections are the adornment of our nature.
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 5: But this is the adornment of perfection itself. It shows
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 5: itself even in the thoughts. Tis most a gift of nature,
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 5: and owes least to education. It even triumphs over training.
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 2: It is more than.
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 5: Ease, approaches the free and easy, gets over embarrassment, and
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 5: adds the finishing touch to perfection. Without it, beauty is lifeless,
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 5: graciousness ungraceful. It surpasses valor, discretion, prudence, Even majesty itself
• 2:33:43
  Speaker 5: tis a short way to dispatch and an easy escape
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 5: from embarrassment. One hundred twenty eight. High mindedness one of
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 5: the principal qualifications for a gentleman, for it spurs on
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 5: to all kinds of nobility. It improves the taste, ennobles
• 2:34:02
  Speaker 5: the heart, elevates the mind, refines the feelings, and intensifies dignity.
• 2:34:09
  Speaker 5: It raises him in whom it is found, and at
• 2:34:12
  Speaker 5: times remedies the bad turns of fortune, which only raises
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 5: by striking. It can find full scope in the will
• 2:34:19
  Speaker 5: when it cannot be exercised in act. Magnanimity, generosity, and
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 5: all heroic qualities recognize in it their source. One hundred
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 5: twenty nine. Never complain. To complain always brings discredit. Better
• 2:34:39
  Speaker 5: be a model of self reliance opposed to the passion
• 2:34:42
  Speaker 5: of others than an object of their compassion, for it
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 5: opens the way for the hearer to what we are
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 5: complaining of, and to disclose one insult forms an excuse
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 5: for another. By complaining of past offenses, we give occasion
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 5: for future ones, and in seeking aid counsel, we only
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 5: obtain indifference or contempt. It is much more politic to
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 5: praise one man's favors so that others may feel obliged
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 5: to follow suit. To recount the favors we owe the
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 5: absent is to demand similar ones from the present, and
• 2:35:17
  Speaker 5: thus we sell our credit with the one to the other.
• 2:35:20
  Speaker 5: The shrewd will therefore never publish to the world his
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 5: failures or his defects, but only those marks of consideration
• 2:35:27
  Speaker 5: which serve to keep friendship alive and enmity silent. One
• 2:35:33
  Speaker 5: hundred and thirty do and be seen doing. Things do
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 5: not pass for what they are, but for what they
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 5: seem to be of use, And to know how to
• 2:35:45
  Speaker 5: show yourself of use is to be twice as useful.
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 5: What is not seen is as if it was not even.
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 5: The right does not receive proper consideration if it does
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 5: not seem right. The observant are far fewer in number
• 2:36:01
  Speaker 5: than those who are deceived by appearances. De seit rules
• 2:36:05
  Speaker 5: the roast, and things are judged by their jackets, and
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 5: many things are other than they seen. A good exterior
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 5: is the best recommendation of the inner perfection. End of
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 5: Section fifteen.
• 2:36:22
  Speaker 7: Nobility of feeling. There is a certain distinction of the soul,
• 2:36:27
  Speaker 7: a high mindedness prompting to gallant acts that gives an
• 2:36:32
  Speaker 7: air of grace to the whole character. It is not
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 7: found often for it presupposes great magnanimity. Its chief characteristic
• 2:36:42
  Speaker 7: is to speak well of an enemy and to act
• 2:36:45
  Speaker 7: even better towards him. It shines brightest when a chance
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 7: comes of revenge. Not alone does it let the occasion pass,
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 7: but it improves it by using a complete victory in
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 7: order to display the unexpected generosity. Tis a fine stroke
• 2:37:04
  Speaker 7: of policy, nay the very acme of state craft. It
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 7: makes no pretense to victory, for it pretends to nothing,
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 7: and while obtaining its deserts, it conceals its merits. One
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 7: hundred and thirty two. Revise your judgments to appeal to
• 2:37:26
  Speaker 7: an inner court of revision makes things safe, especially when
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 7: the course of action is not clear. You gain time
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 7: either to confirm or improve your decision. It affords new
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 7: grounds for strengthening or corroborating your judgment. And if it
• 2:37:46
  Speaker 7: is a matter of giving, the gift, is the more
• 2:37:49
  Speaker 7: valued from its being evidently well considered than for being
• 2:37:53
  Speaker 7: promptly bestowed. Long expected is highest prized, And if you
• 2:37:59
  Speaker 7: have to deny, you gain time to decide how and
• 2:38:04
  Speaker 7: when to mature than know that it may be made palatable. Besides,
• 2:38:10
  Speaker 7: after the first heat of desire is past, the repulse
• 2:38:14
  Speaker 7: of refusal is felt less keenly in cold blood. But
• 2:38:19
  Speaker 7: especially when men press for a reply, is it best
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 7: to defer it, For as often as not, that is
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 7: only a feint to disarm a tension. One hundred and
• 2:38:33
  Speaker 7: thirty three. Better mad with the rest of the world
• 2:38:37
  Speaker 7: than wise alone, so say politicians. If all are so,
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 7: one is no worse off than the rest. Whereas solitary
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 7: wisdom passes for folly, So important is it to sail
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 7: with the stream. The greatest wisdom often consists in ignorance,
• 2:38:59
  Speaker 7: or the pretense of it. One has to live with others,
• 2:39:04
  Speaker 7: and others are mostly ignorant. To live entirely alone, one
• 2:39:09
  Speaker 7: must be very like a god, or quite like a
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 7: wild beast. But I would turn the aphorism by saying,
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 7: better be wise with the many than a fool all alone.
• 2:39:23
  Speaker 7: There may be some two who seek to be original
• 2:39:26
  Speaker 7: by seeking chimeras one hundred and thirty four. Double your resources,
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 7: you thereby double your life. One must not depend on
• 2:39:39
  Speaker 7: one thing, or trust to only one resource. However pre eminent,
• 2:39:44
  Speaker 7: everything should be kept double, especially the causes of success,
• 2:39:49
  Speaker 7: of favor, or of esteem. The Moon's mutability transcends everything
• 2:39:56
  Speaker 7: and gives a limit to all existence, especially of things
• 2:40:01
  Speaker 7: dependent on human will, the most brittle of all things.
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 7: To guard against this inconstancy should be the sage's care,
• 2:40:12
  Speaker 7: And for this the chief rule of life is to
• 2:40:15
  Speaker 7: keep a double store of good and useful qualities. Thus,
• 2:40:21
  Speaker 7: as nature gives us in a duplicate the most important
• 2:40:25
  Speaker 7: of our limbs and those most exposed to risk, so
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 7: art should deal with the qualities on which we depend
• 2:40:33
  Speaker 7: for success. One hundred and thirty five. Do not nourish
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 7: the spirit of contradiction. It only proves you foolish or peevish,
• 2:40:46
  Speaker 7: and prudence should guard against this strenuously. To find difficulties
• 2:40:52
  Speaker 7: in everything may prove you clever, but such wrangling writes
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 7: you down a fool. Such folk make a mimic war
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 7: out of the most pleasant conversation, and in this way
• 2:41:05
  Speaker 7: act as enemies towards their associates, rather than towards those
• 2:41:10
  Speaker 7: with whom they do not consort. Grit grates most in delicacies,
• 2:41:16
  Speaker 7: and so does contradiction in amusement. They are both foolish
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 7: and cruel who yoke together the wild beast and the
• 2:41:26
  Speaker 7: tame one hundred and thirty six post yourself in the
• 2:41:33
  Speaker 7: center of things, so you feel the pulse of affairs.
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 7: Many lose their way either in the ramifications of useless
• 2:41:43
  Speaker 7: discussion or in the brushwood of wearisome verbosity, without ever
• 2:41:49
  Speaker 7: realizing the real matter at issue. They go over a
• 2:41:53
  Speaker 7: single point a hundred times, wearing themselves and others, and
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 7: yet never tough which the all important center or affairs.
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 7: This comes from a confusion of mind from which they
• 2:42:07
  Speaker 7: cannot extricate themselves. They waste time and patience on matters
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 7: they should leave alone, and cannot spare them afterwards for
• 2:42:18
  Speaker 7: what they have left alone. One hundred thirty seven. The
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 7: sage should be self sufficing. He that was all in
• 2:42:30
  Speaker 7: all to himself carried all with him when he carried himself.
• 2:42:36
  Speaker 7: If a universal friend can represent to us Rome and
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 7: the rest of the world, let a man be his
• 2:42:43
  Speaker 7: own universal friend, and then he is in a position
• 2:42:48
  Speaker 7: to live alone. Whom could such a man want? If
• 2:42:52
  Speaker 7: there is no clearer intellect or finer taste than his own.
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 7: He would then depend on himself alone, which is the
• 2:43:01
  Speaker 7: highest happiness. And like the supreme being, he that can
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 7: live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing. The Sage
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 7: in much and God in everything one hundred thirty eight.
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 7: The art of letting things alone, the more so the
• 2:43:24
  Speaker 7: wilder the waves of public or of private life. There
• 2:43:28
  Speaker 7: are hurricanes in human affairs, tempests of passion, when it
• 2:43:33
  Speaker 7: is wise to retire to a harbour and ride at anchor.
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 7: Remedies often make diseases worse. In such cases, one has
• 2:43:43
  Speaker 7: to leave them to their natural course and the moral
• 2:43:47
  Speaker 7: suasion of time. It takes a wise doctor to know
• 2:43:52
  Speaker 7: when not to prescribe, and at times the greater skill
• 2:43:57
  Speaker 7: consists in not applying remedy. The proper way to still
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 7: the storms of the vulgar is to hold your hand
• 2:44:06
  Speaker 7: and let them calm down of themselves. To give way
• 2:44:11
  Speaker 7: now is to conquer by and buy. A fountain gets
• 2:44:16
  Speaker 7: muddy with but little stirring up, and does not get
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 7: clear by our meddling with it, but by our leaving
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 7: it alone. The best remedy for disturbances is to let
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 7: them run their course, for so they quiet down. One
• 2:44:35
  Speaker 7: hundred and thirty nine. Recognize unlucky days they exist. Nothing
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 7: goes well on them. Even though the game may be changed,
• 2:44:46
  Speaker 7: the ill luck remains. Two tries should be enough to
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 7: tell if one is in luck today or not. Everything
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 7: is in process of change, even the mind, and no
• 2:44:59
  Speaker 7: one is always wise. Chance has something to say, even
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 7: how to write a good letter. All perfection turns on
• 2:45:09
  Speaker 7: the time, Even beauty has its hours. Even wisdom fails
• 2:45:15
  Speaker 7: at times by doing too much or too little to
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 7: turn out well. A thing must be done on its
• 2:45:23
  Speaker 7: own day. This is why with some everything turns out ill.
• 2:45:29
  Speaker 7: With others all goes well, even with less trouble. They
• 2:45:34
  Speaker 7: find everything ready, their wit prompt, their presiding genius favorable,
• 2:45:40
  Speaker 7: their lucky star in the ascendant. At such times one
• 2:45:45
  Speaker 7: must seize the occasion and not throw away the slightest chance.
• 2:45:51
  Speaker 7: But a shrewd person will not decide on the day's
• 2:45:55
  Speaker 7: luck by a single piece of good or bad fortune,
• 2:45:59
  Speaker 7: for the why may be only a lucky chance, and
• 2:46:03
  Speaker 7: the other only a slight annoyance. One hundred and forty
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 7: Find the good in a thing at once tis the
• 2:46:14
  Speaker 7: advantage of good taste. The bee goes to the honey
• 2:46:19
  Speaker 7: for her comb, the serpent to the gall for its venom.
• 2:46:23
  Speaker 7: So with taste, some seek the good, others the ill.
• 2:46:29
  Speaker 7: There is nothing that has no good in it, especially
• 2:46:33
  Speaker 7: in books as giving food for thought. But many have
• 2:46:37
  Speaker 7: such a scent that, amid a thousand excellences, they fix
• 2:46:42
  Speaker 7: upon a single defect and single it out for blame,
• 2:46:46
  Speaker 7: as if they were the scavengers of men's minds and hearts.
• 2:46:52
  Speaker 7: So they draw up a balance sheet of defects, which
• 2:46:56
  Speaker 7: does more credit to their bad taste than to their
• 2:46:59
  Speaker 7: inen intelligence. They lead a sad life, nourishing themselves on
• 2:47:05
  Speaker 7: bitters and battening on garbage. They have the luckier taste,
• 2:47:10
  Speaker 7: who midst a thousand defects seese upon a single beauty
• 2:47:16
  Speaker 7: they may have hit upon the by chance. End of
• 2:47:21
  Speaker 7: section sixteen.
• 2:47:23
  Speaker 8: Do not listen to yourself. It is no use pleasing
• 2:47:27
  Speaker 8: yourself if you do not please others. And as a
• 2:47:31
  Speaker 8: rule general contempt is the punishment for self satisfaction. The
• 2:47:36
  Speaker 8: attention you pay to yourself you probably owe to others
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 8: to speak, and at the same time listen to yourself.
• 2:47:43
  Speaker 8: Cannot turn out well. If to talk to oneself when
• 2:47:47
  Speaker 8: alone is folly, it must be doubly unwise to listen
• 2:47:51
  Speaker 8: to oneself in the presence of others. It is a
• 2:47:54
  Speaker 8: weakness of the great to talk with the recurrent. As
• 2:47:57
  Speaker 8: I was saying, and he which bewilders their hearers. At
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 8: every sentence they look for applause or flattery, taxing the
• 2:48:07
  Speaker 8: patient of the wys. So too the pompous speak with
• 2:48:11
  Speaker 8: an echo, and as their talk can only totter on
• 2:48:14
  Speaker 8: with the aid of stilts at every word, they need
• 2:48:17
  Speaker 8: the support of a stupid bravo number one forty two.
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 8: Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent
• 2:48:27
  Speaker 8: has anticipated you in taking the right one. You begin
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 8: the fight already beaten, and must soon take to flight
• 2:48:35
  Speaker 8: and disgrace. With bad weapons, one can never win. It
• 2:48:40
  Speaker 8: was a stute in the opponent to seize the better
• 2:48:42
  Speaker 8: side first. It would be folly to come lagging after
• 2:48:46
  Speaker 8: with the worst. Such obstinacy is more dangerous in actions
• 2:48:50
  Speaker 8: than in words, for action encounters more risk than talk.
• 2:48:55
  Speaker 8: 'tis the common feeling of the obstinate that they lose
• 2:48:58
  Speaker 8: the true by contra addicting it, and the useful by
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 8: quarreling with it. The sage never places himself on the
• 2:49:07
  Speaker 8: side of passion, but espouses the cause of right, either
• 2:49:11
  Speaker 8: discovering it first or improving it later. If the enemy
• 2:49:15
  Speaker 8: is a fool, he will, in such a case turn
• 2:49:19
  Speaker 8: round to follow the opposite and worse way. Thus the
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 8: only way to drive him from the better course is
• 2:49:25
  Speaker 8: to take it yourself, for his folly will cause him
• 2:49:28
  Speaker 8: to desert it, and his obstinacy be punished for so doing.
• 2:49:34
  Speaker 8: Number one hundred forty three. Never become paradoxical in order
• 2:49:39
  Speaker 8: to avoid the trite. Both extremes damage our reputation. Every
• 2:49:45
  Speaker 8: undertaking which differs from the reasonable approaches foolishness. The paradox
• 2:49:50
  Speaker 8: is a cheat. It wins applause at first by its
• 2:49:54
  Speaker 8: novelty and piquancy, but afterwards it becomes discredited when the
• 2:49:58
  Speaker 8: deceit is forced and its emptiness becomes apparent. It is
• 2:50:04
  Speaker 8: a species of jugglery, and it matters political would be
• 2:50:08
  Speaker 8: the ruin of states. Those who cannot or dare not
• 2:50:13
  Speaker 8: reach great deeds on the direct road of excellence go
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 8: round by way of paradox, admired by fools and making
• 2:50:21
  Speaker 8: wise men true prophets. It argues an unbalanced judgment, and
• 2:50:26
  Speaker 8: if it is not altogether based on the false, it
• 2:50:29
  Speaker 8: is certainly founded on the uncertain and risks the weightier
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 8: matters of life. Number one hundred forty four begin another's
• 2:50:40
  Speaker 8: to end with your own 'tis a politic means to
• 2:50:43
  Speaker 8: your end, even in heavenly matters. Christian teachers lay stress
• 2:50:48
  Speaker 8: on this holy cunning. It is a weightier piece of dissimulation,
• 2:50:52
  Speaker 8: for the foreseen advantages serve as a lure to influence
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 8: the other's will. His affair seems to be in when
• 2:51:00
  Speaker 8: it is really only leading the wave for another's. One
• 2:51:04
  Speaker 8: should never advance unless undercover, especially where the ground is dangerous. Likewise,
• 2:51:10
  Speaker 8: with persons who always say no at first, it is
• 2:51:14
  Speaker 8: useful to ward off this blow because the difficulty of
• 2:51:17
  Speaker 8: conceding much more does not occur to them when your
• 2:51:21
  Speaker 8: version is presented to them. This advice belongs to the
• 2:51:24
  Speaker 8: rule about second thoughts chapter thirteen, which covers the most
• 2:51:29
  Speaker 8: subtle maneuvers of life, Number one hundred forty five. Do
• 2:51:35
  Speaker 8: not show your wounded finger, for everything will knock up
• 2:51:40
  Speaker 8: against it, nor complain about it, for malice always aims
• 2:51:45
  Speaker 8: where weakness can be injured. It is no use to
• 2:51:48
  Speaker 8: be vexed. Being the butt of the talk will only
• 2:51:51
  Speaker 8: vex you. The more ill will searches for wounds to irritate,
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 8: aims darts to try the temper, and tries a thousand
• 2:51:59
  Speaker 8: ways to sting to the quick. The wise never own
• 2:52:03
  Speaker 8: to being hit, or disclose any evil, whether personal or hereditary.
• 2:52:08
  Speaker 8: For even fate sometimes likes to wound us where we
• 2:52:11
  Speaker 8: are most tender. It always mortifies wounded flesh. Never therefore,
• 2:52:17
  Speaker 8: disclose the source of mortification or of joy. If you
• 2:52:21
  Speaker 8: wish the one to cease and the other to endure
• 2:52:27
  Speaker 8: number one forty six. Look into the interior of things.
• 2:52:32
  Speaker 8: Things are generally other than they seem. An ignorance that
• 2:52:37
  Speaker 8: never looks beneath the rind becomes disabused when you show
• 2:52:40
  Speaker 8: the kernel. Lies always come first, dragging fools along by
• 2:52:46
  Speaker 8: their irreparable vulgarity. Truth always lags last, limping along on
• 2:52:52
  Speaker 8: the arm of time. The wise therefore reserve for it
• 2:52:57
  Speaker 8: the other half of that power which the common Mother
• 2:53:00
  Speaker 8: has widely given in duplicate Deceit is very superficial, and
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 8: the superficial therefore easily fall into it. Prudence lives retired
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 8: within its recesses, visited only by sages and wise men
• 2:53:18
  Speaker 8: number one hundred forty seven do not be inaccessible. None
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 8: is so perfect that he does not need at times
• 2:53:29
  Speaker 8: the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who
• 2:53:33
  Speaker 8: will never listen to anyone. Even the most surpassing intellect
• 2:53:37
  Speaker 8: should find a place for friendly counsel. Sovereignty itself must
• 2:53:42
  Speaker 8: learn to lean. There are some that are incorrigible simply
• 2:53:46
  Speaker 8: because they are inaccessible. They fall to ruin because none
• 2:53:51
  Speaker 8: dares to extricate them. The highest should have the door
• 2:53:55
  Speaker 8: open for friendship. It may prove the gait of help.
• 2:54:00
  Speaker 8: A friend must be free to advise and even to upbraid,
• 2:54:04
  Speaker 8: without feeling embarrassed. Our satisfaction in him, and our trust
• 2:54:09
  Speaker 8: in his steadfast faith give him that power. One need
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 8: not pay respect or give credit to every one, but
• 2:54:17
  Speaker 8: in the innermost of his precaution man has a true
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 8: mirror of a confidant, to whom he owes the correction
• 2:54:24
  Speaker 8: of his errors and has to thank for it. Number
• 2:54:29
  Speaker 8: one hundred forty eight. Have the art of conversation, that
• 2:54:35
  Speaker 8: is where the real personality shows itself. No act in
• 2:54:40
  Speaker 8: life requires more attention. Though it be the commonest thing
• 2:54:44
  Speaker 8: in life. You must either lose or gain by it.
• 2:54:49
  Speaker 8: If it needs care to write a letter, which is
• 2:54:52
  Speaker 8: but a deliberate and written conversation, how much more the
• 2:54:56
  Speaker 8: ordinary kind, in which there is occasion for pompt display
• 2:55:00
  Speaker 8: of intelligence. Experts feel the pulse of the soul is
• 2:55:04
  Speaker 8: the tongue. Wherefore the sage said, speak that I may
• 2:55:09
  Speaker 8: know thee Some hold that the art of conversation is
• 2:55:12
  Speaker 8: to be without art, that it should be neat, not gaudy,
• 2:55:17
  Speaker 8: like the garments. This holds good for talk between friends,
• 2:55:21
  Speaker 8: but when held with a person to whom one would
• 2:55:24
  Speaker 8: show respect, it should be more dignified to answer to
• 2:55:28
  Speaker 8: the dignity of the person addressed. To be appropriate, it
• 2:55:32
  Speaker 8: should adapt itself to the mind and tone of the interlocutor.
• 2:55:36
  Speaker 8: And do not be a critic of words, or you
• 2:55:39
  Speaker 8: will be taken for pedant, nor a tax gatherer of ideas,
• 2:55:43
  Speaker 8: or men will avoid you, or at least sell their thoughts. Dear.
• 2:55:48
  Speaker 8: In conversation, discretion is more important than eloquence number one
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 8: hundred forty nine. Know how to put off ills on others.
• 2:56:00
  Speaker 8: To have a shield against ill will is a great
• 2:56:03
  Speaker 8: piece of skill in a ruler. It is not the
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 8: resort of incapacity, as ill wishers imagine, but is due
• 2:56:09
  Speaker 8: to the higher policy of having someone to receive the
• 2:56:13
  Speaker 8: censure of the disaffected and the punishment of universal detestation.
• 2:56:18
  Speaker 8: Everything cannot turn out well, nor can everyone be satisfied.
• 2:56:25
  Speaker 8: It is well, therefore, even at the cost of our
• 2:56:27
  Speaker 8: pride to have such escapegoat such a target for unlucky
• 2:56:33
  Speaker 8: undertakings number one hundred fifty. Know to get your price
• 2:56:39
  Speaker 8: for things their intrinsic value is not sufficient. For all
• 2:56:44
  Speaker 8: do not bite at the kernel or look into the interior.
• 2:56:48
  Speaker 8: Most go with the crowd and go because they see
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 8: others go. It is a great stroke of art to
• 2:56:54
  Speaker 8: bring things into repute at times by praising them. For
• 2:56:58
  Speaker 8: praise arouses desires, at times by giving them a striking name,
• 2:57:03
  Speaker 8: which is very useful for putting things at a premium,
• 2:57:05
  Speaker 8: provided it is done without affectation. Again, it is generally
• 2:57:09
  Speaker 8: an inducement to profess to supply only connoisseurs. For all
• 2:57:14
  Speaker 8: think themselves such, and if not, the sense of want
• 2:57:17
  Speaker 8: arouses the desire. Never call things easy or common. That
• 2:57:23
  Speaker 8: makes them depreciated rather than made accessible. All rush after
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 8: the unusual, which is more appetizing, both for the taste
• 2:57:32
  Speaker 8: and for the intelligence. End of Section seventeen.
• 2:57:39
  Speaker 6: Think beforehand today, for tomorrow, and even for many days. Hence,
• 2:57:45
  Speaker 6: the greatest foresight consists in determining beforehand the time of trouble.
• 2:57:50
  Speaker 6: For the provident there are no mischances, and for the
• 2:57:55
  Speaker 6: careful no narrow escapes. We must not put off thought
• 2:57:59
  Speaker 6: till win up to the tin and mire. Mature reflection
• 2:58:03
  Speaker 6: can get over the most formidable difficulty. The pillow is
• 2:58:07
  Speaker 6: a silent sibyl, and it is better to sleep on
• 2:58:10
  Speaker 6: things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. Many act
• 2:58:16
  Speaker 6: first and then think afterwards. That is, they think less
• 2:58:20
  Speaker 6: of consequences than of excuses. Others think neither before nor after.
• 2:58:26
  Speaker 6: The whole of life should be one course of thought,
• 2:58:30
  Speaker 6: how not to miss the right path. Rumination and foresight
• 2:58:34
  Speaker 6: enable one to determine the line of life. One two.
• 2:58:40
  Speaker 6: Never have a companion who casts you in the shade.
• 2:58:44
  Speaker 6: The more he does so, the last desirable a companion
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 6: he is. The more he excels in quality, the more
• 2:58:52
  Speaker 6: in repute. He will always play first fiddle and you second.
• 2:58:57
  Speaker 6: If you get any consideration, it is only his leavings.
• 2:59:02
  Speaker 6: The moon shines bright alone among the stars. When the
• 2:59:06
  Speaker 6: sun rises, she becomes either invisible or imperceptible. Never join
• 2:59:12
  Speaker 6: one that eclipses you, but rather one who sets you
• 2:59:16
  Speaker 6: in a brighter light. By this means the cunning Fabula
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 6: in Marshall was able to appear beautiful and brilliant owing
• 2:59:26
  Speaker 6: to the ugliness and disorder of her companions. But one
• 2:59:30
  Speaker 6: should as little imperil oneself by an evil companion as
• 2:59:35
  Speaker 6: pay honor to another at the cost of one's own credit.
• 2:59:39
  Speaker 6: When you are on the way to fortune, associate with
• 2:59:42
  Speaker 6: the eminent, when arrived with the mediocre. One fifty three.
• 2:59:49
  Speaker 6: Beware of entering where there is a great gap to
• 2:59:53
  Speaker 6: be filled. But if you do it, be sure to
• 2:59:56
  Speaker 6: surpass your predecessor. Merely to equal him requires twice his worth.
• 3:00:03
  Speaker 6: As it is a fine stroke to arrange that our
• 3:00:06
  Speaker 6: successor shall cause us to be wished back. So it
• 3:00:10
  Speaker 6: is policy to see that our predecessor does not eclipse us.
• 3:00:16
  Speaker 6: To fill a great gap is difficult, for the past
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 6: always seems best. And to equal the predecessor is not enough,
• 3:00:25
  Speaker 6: since he has the right of first possession. You must
• 3:00:30
  Speaker 6: therefore possess additional claims to oust the other from his
• 3:00:35
  Speaker 6: hold on public opinion. One fifty four. Do not believe
• 3:00:41
  Speaker 6: or like lightly. Maturity of mind is best shown in
• 3:00:46
  Speaker 6: slow belief. Lying is the usual thing, then let believe
• 3:00:51
  Speaker 6: be unusual. He that is lightly led away soon falls
• 3:00:57
  Speaker 6: into contempt. At the same time time, there is no
• 3:01:01
  Speaker 6: necessity to betray your doubts in the good faith of others,
• 3:01:05
  Speaker 6: for this adds insult to discourtesy, since you make out
• 3:01:10
  Speaker 6: your informant to be either deceiver or deceived. Nor is
• 3:01:15
  Speaker 6: this the only evil. Want of belief is the mark
• 3:01:19
  Speaker 6: of the liar who suffers from two failings. He neither
• 3:01:24
  Speaker 6: believes nor is believed. Suspension of judgment is prudent in
• 3:01:29
  Speaker 6: a hero, the speaker can appeal to his original source
• 3:01:33
  Speaker 6: of information. There is a similar kind of imprudence in
• 3:01:38
  Speaker 6: liking too easily, for lies may be told by deeds
• 3:01:43
  Speaker 6: as well as in words, and this deceit is more
• 3:01:47
  Speaker 6: dangerous for practical life. One fifty five The art of
• 3:01:53
  Speaker 6: getting into a passion. If possible, oppose vulgar importunity with
• 3:01:59
  Speaker 6: proof in reflection, it will not be difficult for really
• 3:02:03
  Speaker 6: prudent men. The first step towards getting into a passion
• 3:02:08
  Speaker 6: is to announce that you are in a passion. By
• 3:02:12
  Speaker 6: this means you begin the conflict with command over your temper,
• 3:02:17
  Speaker 6: For one has to regulate one's passion to the exact
• 3:02:21
  Speaker 6: point that is necessary, and no further This is the
• 3:02:26
  Speaker 6: art of arts. In falling into and getting out of
• 3:02:29
  Speaker 6: a rage, you should know how and when best to
• 3:02:34
  Speaker 6: come to a stop. It is most difficult to halt
• 3:02:38
  Speaker 6: while running at a double It is a great proof
• 3:02:42
  Speaker 6: of wisdom to remain clear sighted during paroxysms of rage.
• 3:02:48
  Speaker 6: Every excess of passion is a digression from rational conduct.
• 3:02:53
  Speaker 6: But by this masterly policy, reason will never be transgressed,
• 3:02:59
  Speaker 6: nor pass the zounds of its own centressis to keep
• 3:03:03
  Speaker 6: control of passion, one must hold firm the reigns of attention.
• 3:03:09
  Speaker 6: He who can do so will be the first man
• 3:03:12
  Speaker 6: wise on horseback, and probably the last one. Fifty six.
• 3:03:18
  Speaker 6: Select your friends. Only after passing the matriculation of experience
• 3:03:25
  Speaker 6: and the examination of fortune will they be graduates. Not
• 3:03:29
  Speaker 6: alone in a faction, but in discernment. Though this is
• 3:03:34
  Speaker 6: the most important thing in life, it is the one
• 3:03:38
  Speaker 6: least cared for. Intelligence brings friends to some chance to most.
• 3:03:45
  Speaker 6: Yet a man is judged by his friends, for there
• 3:03:48
  Speaker 6: was never agreement between wise men and fools. At the
• 3:03:53
  Speaker 6: same time, to find pleasure in a man's society is
• 3:03:57
  Speaker 6: no proof of near Friendship may come from the pleasantness
• 3:04:01
  Speaker 6: of his company more than from trust in his capacity.
• 3:04:06
  Speaker 6: There are some friendships legitimate others elicit the latter for pleasure,
• 3:04:12
  Speaker 6: the former for their fecundity of ideas and motives. Few
• 3:04:17
  Speaker 6: are the friends of a man's self, most those of
• 3:04:21
  Speaker 6: his circumstances. The insight of a true friend is more
• 3:04:27
  Speaker 6: useful than the good will of others. Therefore, gain them
• 3:04:31
  Speaker 6: by choice, not by tens. A wise friend words off worries.
• 3:04:37
  Speaker 6: A foolish one brings them about. But do not wish
• 3:04:41
  Speaker 6: them too much luck, or you may lose them. One
• 3:04:45
  Speaker 6: fifty seven. Do not make mistakes about character. That is
• 3:04:51
  Speaker 6: the worst and yet easiest error, better be cheated in
• 3:04:56
  Speaker 6: the price than in the quality of goods. In dealing
• 3:05:00
  Speaker 6: with men, more than with other things, it is necessary
• 3:05:04
  Speaker 6: to look within. To know men is different from knowing things.
• 3:05:10
  Speaker 6: It is profound philosophy. To sound the depths of feeling
• 3:05:14
  Speaker 6: and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as
• 3:05:19
  Speaker 6: deeply as books. One fifty eight. Make use of your friends.
• 3:05:26
  Speaker 6: This requires all the art of discretion. Some are good
• 3:05:31
  Speaker 6: far off, some when near. Many are no good at conversation,
• 3:05:36
  Speaker 6: but excellent as correspondents. For distance removes some failings which
• 3:05:42
  Speaker 6: are unbearable in close proximity to them. Friends are for
• 3:05:47
  Speaker 6: use even more than for pleasure, for they have the
• 3:05:50
  Speaker 6: three qualities of the good, or as some say, of
• 3:05:55
  Speaker 6: being in general, unity, goodness, and truth. For a friend
• 3:06:02
  Speaker 6: is all in all. Few are worthy to be good friends,
• 3:06:06
  Speaker 6: and even these become fewer because men do not know
• 3:06:09
  Speaker 6: how to pick them out. To keep is more important
• 3:06:13
  Speaker 6: than to make friends. Select those that will wear well.
• 3:06:18
  Speaker 6: If they are new at first, it is some consolation
• 3:06:21
  Speaker 6: they will become old. Absolutely the best are those well salted,
• 3:06:27
  Speaker 6: though they may require soaking in the testing. There is
• 3:06:31
  Speaker 6: no desert like living without friends. Friendship multiplies the good
• 3:06:36
  Speaker 6: of life and devises the evil. Tis the soul remedy
• 3:06:42
  Speaker 6: against misfortune, the very ventilation of the soul one fifty nine.
• 3:06:49
  Speaker 6: Put up with fools. The wise are always impatient, for
• 3:06:54
  Speaker 6: he that increases knowledge increase in patience of folly. Knowledge
• 3:07:00
  Speaker 6: is difficult to satisfy. The first great rule of life,
• 3:07:05
  Speaker 6: according to Epictetis, is to put up with things.
• 3:07:09
  Speaker 4: He makes that the.
• 3:07:10
  Speaker 6: Moity of wisdom. To put up with all the varieties
• 3:07:14
  Speaker 6: of folly, we need much patience. We often have to
• 3:07:19
  Speaker 6: put up with most from those on whom we most
• 3:07:21
  Speaker 6: depend a useful lesson in self control. Out of patience
• 3:07:28
  Speaker 6: comes forth peace, the priceless boon, which is the happiness
• 3:07:33
  Speaker 6: of the world. But let him that hath no power
• 3:07:38
  Speaker 6: of patience retire within himself, though even there he will
• 3:07:43
  Speaker 6: have to put up with himself one point sixty. Be
• 3:07:48
  Speaker 6: careful in speaking with your rivals, from prudence with others.
• 3:07:53
  Speaker 6: For the sake of appearance. There is always time to
• 3:07:57
  Speaker 6: add a word, never to withdraw one. Talk as if
• 3:08:02
  Speaker 6: you were making your will. The fewer words the last litigation.
• 3:08:07
  Speaker 6: In trivial matters, exercise yourself. For the more weighty matters
• 3:08:11
  Speaker 6: of speech. Profound secrecy has some of the luster of
• 3:08:15
  Speaker 6: the divine. He who speaks lightly soon falls or fails.
• 3:08:22
  Speaker 6: End of Section eighteen. Know your pet faults. The most
• 3:08:28
  Speaker 6: perfect of men has them, and is either wedded to
• 3:08:31
  Speaker 6: them or has illicit relations with them. They are often
• 3:08:36
  Speaker 6: faults of intellect, and the greater this is, the greater
• 3:08:40
  Speaker 6: they are, or at least the more conspicuous. It is
• 3:08:44
  Speaker 6: not so much that their possessor does not know them,
• 3:08:48
  Speaker 6: he loves them, which is a double evil irrational affection.
• 3:08:53
  Speaker 6: For avoidable faults. They are spots on perfection. They displease
• 3:08:59
  Speaker 6: the onlooker as much as they please the possessor. Tis
• 3:09:03
  Speaker 6: a gallant thing to get clear of them, and so
• 3:09:06
  Speaker 6: give play to one's other qualities. For all men hit
• 3:09:11
  Speaker 6: upon such a failing, and on going over your qualifications,
• 3:09:16
  Speaker 6: they make a long stay at this blot and blacken
• 3:09:20
  Speaker 6: it as deeply as possible, in order to cast your
• 3:09:24
  Speaker 6: other talents into the shade. One six two. How to
• 3:09:30
  Speaker 6: triumph over rivals and detractors. It is not enough to
• 3:09:35
  Speaker 6: despise them, though this is often wise. A gallant bearing
• 3:09:39
  Speaker 6: is the thing. One cannot praise a man too much
• 3:09:43
  Speaker 6: who speaks well of them who speak ill of him.
• 3:09:48
  Speaker 6: There is no more heroic vengeance than that of talents
• 3:09:52
  Speaker 6: and services, which at once conquer and torment the envious.
• 3:09:57
  Speaker 6: Every success is a further to of the cord round
• 3:10:01
  Speaker 6: the neck of the ill affected, And an enemy's glory
• 3:10:06
  Speaker 6: is the rival's hell. The envious die not once, but
• 3:10:11
  Speaker 6: as oft as the envied wins applause. The immortality of
• 3:10:17
  Speaker 6: his fame is the measure of the other's torture. The
• 3:10:21
  Speaker 6: one lives in endless honor, the other in endless pain.
• 3:10:26
  Speaker 6: The clearion of fame announces immortality to the one and
• 3:10:31
  Speaker 6: death to the other, the slow death of envy long
• 3:10:36
  Speaker 6: drawn out. One sixty three. Never, from sympathy with the unfortunate,
• 3:10:43
  Speaker 6: involve yourself in his fate. One man's misfortune is another
• 3:10:49
  Speaker 6: man's luck, for one cannot be lucky without many being unlucky.
• 3:10:55
  Speaker 6: It is a peculiarity of the unfortunate to arouse people's
• 3:10:59
  Speaker 6: good wins, who desire to compensate them for the blows
• 3:11:03
  Speaker 6: of fortune with their useless favor. And it happens that
• 3:11:08
  Speaker 6: one who is abhorred by all in prosperity is adored
• 3:11:12
  Speaker 6: by all inadversity. Vengeance on the wing is exchanged for
• 3:11:18
  Speaker 6: compassion of foot. Yet tis to be noticed how fate
• 3:11:23
  Speaker 6: shuffles the cards. There are men who always consort with
• 3:11:28
  Speaker 6: the unlucky, and he that yesterday flew high and happy,
• 3:11:32
  Speaker 6: stands today miserable at their side. That argues nobility of soul,
• 3:11:38
  Speaker 6: but not worldly wisdom. One sixty four. Throw straws in
• 3:11:44
  Speaker 6: the air to find how things will be received, especially
• 3:11:49
  Speaker 6: those whose reception or success is doubtful. One can thus
• 3:11:53
  Speaker 6: be assured if its turning out well, and an opportunity
• 3:11:58
  Speaker 6: is afforded for going on in earth earnest or withdrawing entirely.
• 3:12:03
  Speaker 6: By trying men's intentions. In this way, the wise man
• 3:12:07
  Speaker 6: knows on what ground he stands. This is the great
• 3:12:11
  Speaker 6: rule of foresight. In asking, in desiring, and in ruling
• 3:12:18
  Speaker 6: one sixty five wage war honorably. You may be obliged
• 3:12:24
  Speaker 6: to wage war, but not to use poisoned arrows. Everyone
• 3:12:29
  Speaker 6: must needs act as he is, not as others would
• 3:12:33
  Speaker 6: make him to be. Gallantry in the battle of life
• 3:12:37
  Speaker 6: wins all men's praise. One should fight so as to conquer,
• 3:12:42
  Speaker 6: not alone by force, but by the way it is used.
• 3:12:46
  Speaker 6: A mean victory brings no glory, but rather disgrace. Honor
• 3:12:53
  Speaker 6: always has the upper hand. An honorable man never uses
• 3:12:58
  Speaker 6: forbidden weapons, such as using a friendship that's ended for
• 3:13:02
  Speaker 6: the purpose of a hatred just begun. A confidence must
• 3:13:07
  Speaker 6: never be used for a vengeance. The slightest taint of
• 3:13:11
  Speaker 6: treason tarnishes the good name in men of honor, the
• 3:13:16
  Speaker 6: smallest traits of meanness repels the noble, and the ignoble
• 3:13:23
  Speaker 6: should be miles apart. Be able to boast that if gallantry, generosity,
• 3:13:29
  Speaker 6: and fidelity were lost in the world, men would be
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 6: able to find them again in your own breast one
• 3:13:38
  Speaker 6: sixty six. Distinguish the men of words from the men
• 3:13:42
  Speaker 6: of deeds. Discrimination here is as important as in the
• 3:13:47
  Speaker 6: case of friends, persons, and employments, which have all many varieties.
• 3:13:54
  Speaker 6: Bad words, even without bad deeds, are bad enough good words.
• 3:14:00
  Speaker 6: Bad deeds are words. One cannot dine off words which
• 3:14:04
  Speaker 6: are wind nor of politeness, which is but polite deceit.
• 3:14:11
  Speaker 6: To catch birds with a mirror is the ideal snare.
• 3:14:15
  Speaker 6: It is the vein alone who take their wages in
• 3:14:18
  Speaker 6: windy words. Words should be the pledges of work, and
• 3:14:25
  Speaker 6: like pawn tickets have their market price. Trees that bear
• 3:14:30
  Speaker 6: leaves but not fruit have usually no pith. Know them
• 3:14:35
  Speaker 6: for what they are of no use except for shade
• 3:14:40
  Speaker 6: one sixty seven. Know how to take your own part
• 3:14:45
  Speaker 6: in great crises. There is no better companion than a
• 3:14:48
  Speaker 6: bold heart, and if it becomes weak, it must be
• 3:14:52
  Speaker 6: strengthened from the neighboring parts. Worries die away before a
• 3:14:57
  Speaker 6: man who asserts himself. One must not surrendered to misfortune,
• 3:15:02
  Speaker 6: or else it would become intolerable. Many men do not
• 3:15:06
  Speaker 6: help themselves in their troubles, and double their weight by
• 3:15:10
  Speaker 6: not knowing how to bear them. He that knows himself
• 3:15:14
  Speaker 6: knows how to strengthen his weakness. And the wise man
• 3:15:18
  Speaker 6: conquers everything, even the stars. In their courses one sixty eight.
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 6: Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly like vain, presumptuous, egotistical, untrustworthy, capricious, obstinate, fanciful, theatrical, whimsical, inquisitive, paradoxical,
• 3:15:42
  Speaker 6: sectarian people, and all kinds of one sided persons. They
• 3:15:47
  Speaker 6: are all monstrosities of impertinence. All deformity of mind is
• 3:15:53
  Speaker 6: more obnoxious than that of the body, because it contravenes
• 3:15:57
  Speaker 6: a higher beauty. Yet who can assist such a complete
• 3:16:02
  Speaker 6: confusion of mind? Where self control is wanting, there is
• 3:16:07
  Speaker 6: no room for others guidance. Instead of paying attention to
• 3:16:11
  Speaker 6: other people's real derision, men of this kind blind themselves
• 3:16:16
  Speaker 6: with the unfounded assumption of their imaginary applause one sixty nine.
• 3:16:24
  Speaker 6: Be more careful not to miss once than to hit
• 3:16:27
  Speaker 6: a hundred times. No one looks at the blazing sun
• 3:16:31
  Speaker 6: all gaze when he is eclipsed. The common talk does
• 3:16:36
  Speaker 6: not reckon what goes right, but what goes wrong. Evil
• 3:16:41
  Speaker 6: report carries farther than any applause. Many men are not
• 3:16:46
  Speaker 6: known to the world till they have left it. All
• 3:16:49
  Speaker 6: the exploits of men taken together are not enough to
• 3:16:53
  Speaker 6: wipe out a single small blemish, avoid therefore falling into air,
• 3:16:59
  Speaker 6: seing that ill will notices every error and no success
• 3:17:06
  Speaker 6: one seventy. In all things, keep something in reserve 'tis
• 3:17:12
  Speaker 6: a sure means of keeping up your importance. A man
• 3:17:16
  Speaker 6: should not employ all his capacity and power at once
• 3:17:20
  Speaker 6: and on every occasion. Even in knowledge. There should be
• 3:17:24
  Speaker 6: a rear guard, so that your resources are doubled. One
• 3:17:29
  Speaker 6: must always have something to resort to when there is
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 6: fear of a defeat. The reserve is of more importance
• 3:17:36
  Speaker 6: than the attacking force, for it is distinguished for valor
• 3:17:41
  Speaker 6: and reputation. Prudence always sets the work with assurance of safety.
• 3:17:48
  Speaker 6: In this matter, the pick and paradox holds good that
• 3:17:52
  Speaker 6: the half is more than the whole. End of Section nineteen.
• 3:17:58
  Speaker 7: Waste not influence the great. As friends are for great occasions.
• 3:18:05
  Speaker 7: One should not make use of great confidence for little things,
• 3:18:10
  Speaker 7: for that is to waste a favor. The sheet anchor
• 3:18:13
  Speaker 7: should be reserved for the last extremity. If you use
• 3:18:18
  Speaker 7: up the great, for little ends what remains afterwards. Nothing
• 3:18:23
  Speaker 7: is more valuable than a protector, and nothing costs more
• 3:18:27
  Speaker 7: nowadays than a favor. It can make or unmake a
• 3:18:31
  Speaker 7: whole world. It can even give sense and take it away.
• 3:18:37
  Speaker 7: As nature and fame are favorable to the wise, so
• 3:18:41
  Speaker 7: luck is generally envious of them. It is therefore more
• 3:18:47
  Speaker 7: important to keep the favor of the mighty than goods
• 3:18:51
  Speaker 7: and chattels. One hundred and seventy two. Never contend with
• 3:18:58
  Speaker 7: a man who has nothing to lose, for thereby you
• 3:19:03
  Speaker 7: enter into an unequal conflict. The other enters without anxiety.
• 3:19:09
  Speaker 7: Having lost everything, including shame, he has no further lost
• 3:19:14
  Speaker 7: to fear. He therefore resorts to all kinds of insolence.
• 3:19:20
  Speaker 7: One should never expose a valuable reputation to so terrible
• 3:19:25
  Speaker 7: a risk, lest what has cost years to gain may
• 3:19:29
  Speaker 7: be lost in a moment, since a single slight may
• 3:19:33
  Speaker 7: wipe out much sweat. A man of honor and responsibility
• 3:19:38
  Speaker 7: has a reputation because he has much to lose. He
• 3:19:43
  Speaker 7: balances his own and the other's reputation. He only enters
• 3:19:49
  Speaker 7: into the contest with the greatest caution, and then goes
• 3:19:53
  Speaker 7: to work with such circumspection, that he gives time to
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 7: prudence to retire in time and bring his reputation under cover,
• 3:20:03
  Speaker 7: For even by victory, he cannot gain what he has
• 3:20:07
  Speaker 7: lost by exposing himself to the chances of loss. One
• 3:20:14
  Speaker 7: hundred seventy three. Do not be glass in intercourse, still
• 3:20:19
  Speaker 7: less in friendship. Some break very easily, and thereby show
• 3:20:25
  Speaker 7: their want of consistency. They attribute to themselves imaginary offenses
• 3:20:31
  Speaker 7: and to others oppressive intentions. Their feelings are even more
• 3:20:37
  Speaker 7: sensitive than the eye itself, and must not be touched
• 3:20:42
  Speaker 7: in jest or in earnest motes offend them. They need
• 3:20:47
  Speaker 7: not wait for beams. Those who consort with them must
• 3:20:51
  Speaker 7: treat them with the greatest delicacy. Have regard to their sensitiveness,
• 3:20:57
  Speaker 7: and watch their demeanor, since the slightest slight arouses their annoyance.
• 3:21:04
  Speaker 7: They are mostly very egoistic slaves of their moods, for
• 3:21:09
  Speaker 7: the sake of which they cast everything aside. They are
• 3:21:13
  Speaker 7: the worshipers of punctilio. On the other hand, the disposition
• 3:21:19
  Speaker 7: of the true lover is firm and enduring, so that
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 7: it may be said that the amant is half adamant
• 3:21:29
  Speaker 7: one hundred and seventy four. Do not live in a hurry.
• 3:21:34
  Speaker 7: To know how to separate things is to know how
• 3:21:38
  Speaker 7: to enjoy them. Many finish their fortune sooner than their life.
• 3:21:43
  Speaker 7: They run through pleasures without enjoying them, and would like
• 3:21:48
  Speaker 7: to go back when they find they have overleaped the
• 3:21:52
  Speaker 7: mark postilions of life. They increase the ordinary pace of
• 3:21:57
  Speaker 7: life by the hurry of their own. They devour more
• 3:22:02
  Speaker 7: in one day than they can digest in a whole lifetime.
• 3:22:07
  Speaker 7: They live in advance of pleasures, eat up the years beforehand,
• 3:22:12
  Speaker 7: and by their hurry, get through everything too soon. Even
• 3:22:18
  Speaker 7: in the search for knowledge, there should be moderation, lest
• 3:22:22
  Speaker 7: we learn things better left unknown. We have more days
• 3:22:27
  Speaker 7: to live through than pleasures. Be slow in enjoyment, quick
• 3:22:33
  Speaker 7: at work. For men see work ended with pleasure, pleasure
• 3:22:38
  Speaker 7: ended with regret one hundred and seventy five. A solid man,
• 3:22:47
  Speaker 7: one who is, finds no satisfaction in those that are not.
• 3:22:53
  Speaker 7: Tis a pitiable eminence that is not well founded. Not
• 3:22:58
  Speaker 7: all our men that seem to be so. Some are
• 3:23:03
  Speaker 7: sources of deceit, impregnated by chimeras, they give birth to impositions.
• 3:23:10
  Speaker 7: Others are like them so far that they take more
• 3:23:14
  Speaker 7: pleasure in a lie because it promises much than in
• 3:23:18
  Speaker 7: the truth because it performs little. But in the end
• 3:23:23
  Speaker 7: these caprices come to a bad end, for they have
• 3:23:27
  Speaker 7: no solid foundation. Only truth can give true reputation. Only
• 3:23:34
  Speaker 7: reality can be of real profit. One deceit needs many others,
• 3:23:41
  Speaker 7: and so the whole house is built in the air
• 3:23:44
  Speaker 7: and must soon come to the ground. Unfounded things never
• 3:23:50
  Speaker 7: reach old age. They promise too much to be much trusted,
• 3:23:56
  Speaker 7: just as that cannot be true, which proves too much.
• 3:24:02
  Speaker 7: One hundred and seventy six have knowledge or know those
• 3:24:08
  Speaker 7: that have knowledge. Without intelligence, either one's own or another's,
• 3:24:14
  Speaker 7: true life is impossible. But many do not know that
• 3:24:19
  Speaker 7: they do not know, and many think they know when
• 3:24:23
  Speaker 7: they know nothing. Failings of the intelligence are encouragible, since
• 3:24:29
  Speaker 7: those who do not know do not know themselves and
• 3:24:33
  Speaker 7: cannot therefore seek what they lack. Many would be wise
• 3:24:39
  Speaker 7: if they did not think themselves wise. Thus it happens
• 3:24:44
  Speaker 7: that though the oracles of wisdom are rare, they are
• 3:24:49
  Speaker 7: rarely used to seek. Advice does not lessen greatness or
• 3:24:55
  Speaker 7: argue incapacity. On the contrary, to ask, advice proves you
• 3:25:01
  Speaker 7: are well advised. Take counsel with reason if you do
• 3:25:06
  Speaker 7: not wish to court defeat one hundred and seventy seven.
• 3:25:13
  Speaker 7: Avoid familiarities in intercourse. Neither use them nor permit them.
• 3:25:20
  Speaker 7: He that is familiar loses any superiority his influence gives him,
• 3:25:26
  Speaker 7: and so loses respect. The stars keep their brilliance by
• 3:25:32
  Speaker 7: not making themselves common. The divine demands decorum. Every familiarity
• 3:25:41
  Speaker 7: breeds contempt in human affairs, the more a man shows,
• 3:25:47
  Speaker 7: the less he has. For in open communication, you communicate
• 3:25:52
  Speaker 7: the failings that reserve might keep under cover. Familiarity is
• 3:25:59
  Speaker 7: never desiredable with superiors because it is dangerous with inferiors,
• 3:26:06
  Speaker 7: because it is unbecoming. Least of all with the common herd,
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 7: who become insolent from sheer folly. They mistake favor shown
• 3:26:17
  Speaker 7: them for need felt of them. Familiarity trenches on vulgarity
• 3:26:26
  Speaker 7: one hundred and seventy eight. Trust your heart, especially when
• 3:26:32
  Speaker 7: it has been proved. Never deny it a hearing. It
• 3:26:37
  Speaker 7: is a kind of house oracle that often foretells the
• 3:26:41
  Speaker 7: most important. Many have perished because they feared their own heart.
• 3:26:47
  Speaker 7: But of what use is it to fear it without
• 3:26:50
  Speaker 7: finding a better remedy. Many are endowed by nature with
• 3:26:55
  Speaker 7: a heart so true that it always warns them of
• 3:26:59
  Speaker 7: a minas fortune and wards off its effects. It is
• 3:27:04
  Speaker 7: unwise to seek evils unless you seek to conquer them.
• 3:27:11
  Speaker 7: One hundred and seventy nine. Reticence is the seal of capacity.
• 3:27:17
  Speaker 7: A breast without a secret is an open letter. Where
• 3:27:22
  Speaker 7: there is a solid foundation, secrets can be kept profound.
• 3:27:28
  Speaker 7: There are spacious sellars where things of moment may be hid.
• 3:27:34
  Speaker 7: Reticence springs from self control, and to control oneself in
• 3:27:39
  Speaker 7: this is a true triumph. You must pay ransom to
• 3:27:44
  Speaker 7: each you tell. The security of wisdom consists in temperance
• 3:27:50
  Speaker 7: in the inner man. The risk that reticence runs lies
• 3:27:55
  Speaker 7: in the cross questioning of others, in the use of
• 3:27:59
  Speaker 7: contradiction to worm out secrets, in the darts of irony.
• 3:28:04
  Speaker 7: To avoid these, the prudent becomes more reticent than before.
• 3:28:11
  Speaker 7: What must be done need not be said, and what
• 3:28:16
  Speaker 7: must be said need not be done. One hundred and eighty.
• 3:28:23
  Speaker 7: Never guide the enemy to what he has to do.
• 3:28:29
  Speaker 7: The fool never does what the wise judge wise, because
• 3:28:34
  Speaker 7: he does not follow up the suitable means. He that
• 3:28:39
  Speaker 7: is discreet follows still less a plan laid out or
• 3:28:44
  Speaker 7: even carried out by another. One has to discuss matters
• 3:28:49
  Speaker 7: from both points of view, turn it over on both sides.
• 3:28:56
  Speaker 7: Judgments vary. Let him that has not decided attend rather
• 3:29:02
  Speaker 7: to what is possible than what is probable. End of
• 3:29:09
  Speaker 7: Section twenty.
• 3:29:11
  Speaker 5: The truth, but not the whole truth. Nothing demands more
• 3:29:16
  Speaker 5: caution than the truth tis the lancet of the heart.
• 3:29:21
  Speaker 5: It requires as much to tell the truth as to
• 3:29:24
  Speaker 5: conceal it. A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.
• 3:29:29
  Speaker 5: The deceit is regarded as treason, and the deceiver as
• 3:29:33
  Speaker 5: a traitor, which is worse. Yet, not all truths can
• 3:29:37
  Speaker 5: be spoken, some for our own sake, others for the
• 3:29:41
  Speaker 5: sake of others.
• 3:29:44
  Speaker 2: One hundred and eighty two.
• 3:29:46
  Speaker 5: A grain of boldness in everything'tis an important piece of prudence.
• 3:29:53
  Speaker 5: You must moderate your opinion of others so that you
• 3:29:56
  Speaker 5: may not think so high of them as to fear them.
• 3:29:59
  Speaker 5: The imagination should never yield to the heart. Many appear
• 3:30:04
  Speaker 5: great till you know them personally, and then dealing with
• 3:30:07
  Speaker 5: them does more to disillusionize than to raise esteem. No
• 3:30:11
  Speaker 5: one o'er steps the narrow bounds of humanity. All have
• 3:30:15
  Speaker 5: their weaknesses, either in heart or head. Dignity gives apparent authority,
• 3:30:21
  Speaker 5: which is rarely accompanied by personal power, for fortune often
• 3:30:26
  Speaker 5: redresses the height of office by the inferiority of the holder.
• 3:30:31
  Speaker 5: The imagination always jumps too soon and paints things in
• 3:30:34
  Speaker 5: brighter colors than the real. It thinks things not as
• 3:30:38
  Speaker 5: they are, but as it wishes them to be. Attentive experience,
• 3:30:43
  Speaker 5: disillusioned in the past, soon corrects all that. Yet, if
• 3:30:47
  Speaker 5: wisdom should not be timorous, neither should folly be rash.
• 3:30:52
  Speaker 5: And if self reliance helps the ignorant, how much more
• 3:30:57
  Speaker 5: the brave and wise one hundred and eighty three. Do
• 3:31:02
  Speaker 5: not hold your views too firmly. Every fool is fully convinced,
• 3:31:09
  Speaker 5: and every one fully persuaded is a fool. The more
• 3:31:13
  Speaker 5: erroneous his judgment, the more firmly he holds it, even
• 3:31:17
  Speaker 5: in cases of obvious certainty. It is fine to yield.
• 3:31:21
  Speaker 5: Our reasons for holding the view cannot escape notice. Our
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 5: courtesy in yielding must be the more recognized. Our obstinacy
• 3:31:31
  Speaker 5: loses more than our victory yields. That is not to
• 3:31:34
  Speaker 5: champion truth, but rather rudeness. There be some heads of
• 3:31:39
  Speaker 5: iron most difficult to turn. Add caprice to obstinacy, and
• 3:31:44
  Speaker 5: the sum is a wearisome fool. Steadfastness should be for
• 3:31:48
  Speaker 5: the will, not for the mind. Yet there are exceptions
• 3:31:52
  Speaker 5: where one would fail twice, owning oneself wrong both in
• 3:31:57
  Speaker 5: judgment and in the execution of it.
• 3:32:01
  Speaker 2: One hundred and eighty four.
• 3:32:03
  Speaker 5: Do not be ceremonious, even in a king affectation in
• 3:32:09
  Speaker 5: this was renowned for its eccentricity. To be punctilious is
• 3:32:14
  Speaker 5: to be a bore. Yet whole nations have this peculiarity.
• 3:32:19
  Speaker 5: The garb of folly is woven out of such things.
• 3:32:22
  Speaker 5: Such folk are worshipers of their own dignity, yet show
• 3:32:27
  Speaker 5: how little it is justified, since they fear that the
• 3:32:30
  Speaker 5: least thing can destroy it. It is right to demand respect,
• 3:32:34
  Speaker 5: but not to be considered a master of ceremonies. Yet
• 3:32:39
  Speaker 5: it is true that a man to do without ceremonies
• 3:32:42
  Speaker 5: must possess supreme qualities neither affect nor despise etiquette. He
• 3:32:48
  Speaker 5: cannot be great who is great at such little things.
• 3:32:53
  Speaker 2: One hundred and eighty five.
• 3:32:56
  Speaker 5: Never stake your credit on a single caste, for if
• 3:33:00
  Speaker 5: it miscarries the damage is irreparable. It may easy happen
• 3:33:05
  Speaker 5: that a man should fail once, especially at first. Circumstances
• 3:33:09
  Speaker 5: are not always favorable. Hence they say every dog has
• 3:33:14
  Speaker 5: his day. Always connect your second attempt with your first.
• 3:33:19
  Speaker 5: Whether it succeed or fail, the first will redeem the second.
• 3:33:23
  Speaker 5: Always have resort to better means, and appeal to more resources.
• 3:33:28
  Speaker 5: Things depend on all sorts of chances. That is why
• 3:33:32
  Speaker 5: the satisfaction of success is so rare.
• 3:33:37
  Speaker 2: One hundred and eighty.
• 3:33:38
  Speaker 5: Six recognize faults, However, high placed integrity cannot mistake vice,
• 3:33:46
  Speaker 5: even when clothed in brocade, or perchance crowned with gold,
• 3:33:51
  Speaker 5: but will not be able to hide its character. For
• 3:33:53
  Speaker 5: all that slavery does not lose its vileness, however it
• 3:33:58
  Speaker 5: vaunt the nobility of its laws.
• 3:34:00
  Speaker 2: Lord and master.
• 3:34:01
  Speaker 5: Vices may stand in high place, but are low. For
• 3:34:04
  Speaker 5: all that men can see that many a great man
• 3:34:07
  Speaker 5: has great faults, yet they do not see that he
• 3:34:11
  Speaker 5: is not great because of them. The example of the
• 3:34:14
  Speaker 5: great is so specious that it even glosses over viciousness,
• 3:34:19
  Speaker 5: till it may so affect those who flatter it that
• 3:34:22
  Speaker 5: they do not notice that what they gloss over in
• 3:34:24
  Speaker 5: the great they abominate in the lower classes.
• 3:34:29
  Speaker 2: One hundred eighty seven.
• 3:34:32
  Speaker 5: Do pleasant things yourself, unpleasant things through others. By the
• 3:34:38
  Speaker 5: one course, you gain good will. By the other you
• 3:34:41
  Speaker 5: avoid hatred. A great man takes more pleasure in doing
• 3:34:45
  Speaker 5: a favor than in receiving one. It is the privilege
• 3:34:49
  Speaker 5: of his generous nature. One cannot easily cause pain to
• 3:34:53
  Speaker 5: another without suffering pain, either from sympathy or from remorse.
• 3:34:59
  Speaker 5: In high place, one can only work by means of
• 3:35:01
  Speaker 5: rewards and punishment. So grant the first yourself, inflict the
• 3:35:07
  Speaker 5: other through others. Have some one against whom the weapons
• 3:35:11
  Speaker 5: of discontent, hatred, and slander may be directed. For the
• 3:35:16
  Speaker 5: rage of the mob is like that of a dog.
• 3:35:18
  Speaker 5: Missing the cause of its pain, it turns to bite
• 3:35:21
  Speaker 5: the whip itself, and though this is not the real culprit,
• 3:35:25
  Speaker 5: it has to pay the penalty.
• 3:35:29
  Speaker 2: One eighty eight.
• 3:35:31
  Speaker 5: Be the bearer of praise. This increases our credit for
• 3:35:36
  Speaker 5: good taste, since it shows that we have learnt elsewhere
• 3:35:39
  Speaker 5: to know what is excellent, and hence how to prize it.
• 3:35:43
  Speaker 5: In the present company. It gives material for conversation and
• 3:35:47
  Speaker 5: for imitation, and encourages praiseworthy exertions. We do homage, besides,
• 3:35:53
  Speaker 5: in a very delicate way to the excellences before us.
• 3:35:57
  Speaker 5: Others do the opposite. They accompany their talk with a
• 3:36:00
  Speaker 5: sneer and fancy. They flatter those present by belittling the absent.
• 3:36:05
  Speaker 5: This may serve them with superficial people who do not
• 3:36:09
  Speaker 5: notice how cunning it is to speak ill of every
• 3:36:11
  Speaker 5: one to every one else. Many pursue the plan of
• 3:36:16
  Speaker 5: valuing more highly than mediocrities of the day than the
• 3:36:19
  Speaker 5: most distinguished exploits of the past. Let the cautius penetrate
• 3:36:24
  Speaker 5: through these subtleties, and let him not be dismayed by
• 3:36:28
  Speaker 5: the exaggerations of the one, or made over confident by
• 3:36:32
  Speaker 5: the flatteries of the other, knowing that both act in
• 3:36:36
  Speaker 5: the same way, by different methods, adapting their talk to
• 3:36:40
  Speaker 5: the company they are.
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 2: In one hundred and eighty nine.
• 3:36:45
  Speaker 5: Utilize another's wants. The greater his wants, the greater the
• 3:36:50
  Speaker 5: turn of the screw. Philosophers say privation is nonexistent. Statesmen
• 3:36:56
  Speaker 5: say it is all embracing, and they are right. Many
• 3:37:00
  Speaker 5: make ladders to attain their ends out of wants of others.
• 3:37:04
  Speaker 5: They make use of the opportunity and tantalize the appetite
• 3:37:07
  Speaker 5: by pointing out the difficulty of satisfaction.
• 3:37:11
  Speaker 4: The energy of.
• 3:37:11
  Speaker 5: Desire promises more than the inertia of possession. The passion
• 3:37:17
  Speaker 5: of desire increases with every increase of opposition. It is
• 3:37:21
  Speaker 5: a subtle point to satisfy the desire and yet preserve
• 3:37:26
  Speaker 5: the dependence one hundred ninety. Find consolation in all things.
• 3:37:34
  Speaker 5: Even the useless may find it in being immortal, no
• 3:37:38
  Speaker 5: trouble without compensation. Fools are held to be lucky, and
• 3:37:42
  Speaker 5: the good luck of the ugly is proverbial. Be worth little,
• 3:37:46
  Speaker 5: and you will live long. It is the cracked glass
• 3:37:49
  Speaker 5: that never gets broken, but worries one with its durability.
• 3:37:53
  Speaker 5: It seems that fortune envies the great, so it equalizes
• 3:37:57
  Speaker 5: things by giving long life to the useless, a short
• 3:38:01
  Speaker 5: one to the important. Those who bear the burden comes
• 3:38:04
  Speaker 5: soon to grief, while those who of no importance live.
• 3:38:08
  Speaker 4: On and on.
• 3:38:10
  Speaker 5: In one case it appears so, in the other it
• 3:38:12
  Speaker 5: is so. The unlucky thinks he has been forgotten by
• 3:38:16
  Speaker 5: both death and fortune. End of Section twenty one. Do
• 3:38:24
  Speaker 5: not take payment in politeness, for it is a kind
• 3:38:27
  Speaker 5: of fraud. Some do not need the herbs of Thessaly
• 3:38:31
  Speaker 5: for their magic, for they can enchant fools by the
• 3:38:34
  Speaker 5: grace of their salute. Theirs is the bank of elegance,
• 3:38:39
  Speaker 5: and they pay with the wind of fine words. To
• 3:38:42
  Speaker 5: promise everything is to promise nothing. Promises are the pitfalls
• 3:38:47
  Speaker 5: of fools. The true courtesy is performance of duty. Thus, furious,
• 3:38:53
  Speaker 5: and especially the useless, is deceit. It is not respect,
• 3:38:57
  Speaker 5: but rather a means to power. Obaissance is paid not
• 3:39:02
  Speaker 5: to the man, but to his means, and compliments are
• 3:39:05
  Speaker 5: offered not to the qualities that are recognized, but to
• 3:39:09
  Speaker 5: the advantages that are desired. One hundred and ninety two
• 3:39:15
  Speaker 5: Peaceful life, a long life to live.
• 3:39:19
  Speaker 6: Let live.
• 3:39:20
  Speaker 5: Peacemakers not only live, they rule life. Hear, see and
• 3:39:26
  Speaker 5: be silent. A day without dispute brings sleep without dreams,
• 3:39:32
  Speaker 5: long life, and a pleasant one. Is life enough for two.
• 3:39:36
  Speaker 5: That is the fruit of peace. He has all that
• 3:39:40
  Speaker 5: makes nothing of what is nothing to him. There is
• 3:39:44
  Speaker 5: no greater perversity than to take everything to heart. There
• 3:39:49
  Speaker 5: is equal folly in troubling our heart about what does
• 3:39:52
  Speaker 5: not concern us, and in not taking to heart what
• 3:39:55
  Speaker 5: does one hundred and ninety three Watch him that begins
• 3:40:00
  Speaker 5: with another's to end with his own. Watchfulness is the
• 3:40:04
  Speaker 5: only guard against cunning be intent on his intentions. Many
• 3:40:10
  Speaker 5: succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless
• 3:40:13
  Speaker 5: you possess the key to their motives, you may, at
• 3:40:16
  Speaker 5: any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of
• 3:40:19
  Speaker 5: the fire, to the damage of your own fingers. One
• 3:40:24
  Speaker 5: hundred and ninety four. Have reasonable views of yourself and
• 3:40:29
  Speaker 5: of your affairs. Especially in the beginning of life. Everyone
• 3:40:34
  Speaker 5: has a high opinion of himself, especially those who have
• 3:40:37
  Speaker 5: least ground for it. Everyone dreams of his good luck
• 3:40:41
  Speaker 5: and thinks himself a wonder. Hope gives rise to extravagant
• 3:40:46
  Speaker 5: promises which experience does not fulfill. Such idle imaginations merely
• 3:40:52
  Speaker 5: serve as a wellspring of annoyance when disillusion comes with
• 3:40:56
  Speaker 5: the true reality. The wise man and his pains such errors.
• 3:41:01
  Speaker 5: He may always hope for the best, but he always
• 3:41:04
  Speaker 5: expects the worst, so as to receive what comes with equanimity. True,
• 3:41:10
  Speaker 5: it is wise to aim high so as to hit
• 3:41:12
  Speaker 5: your mark, but not so high that you miss your mission.
• 3:41:16
  Speaker 5: At the very beginning of life. This correction of the
• 3:41:19
  Speaker 5: ideas is necessary, because before experience comes expectation is sure
• 3:41:25
  Speaker 5: to soar too high. The best panacea against folly is prudence.
• 3:41:31
  Speaker 5: If a man knows the true sphere of his activity
• 3:41:34
  Speaker 5: and position, he can reconcile his ideas with reality. One
• 3:41:40
  Speaker 5: hundred and ninety five. Know how to appreciate. There is
• 3:41:45
  Speaker 5: none who cannot teach somebody something, And there is none
• 3:41:49
  Speaker 5: so excellent. But he is excelled to know how to
• 3:41:53
  Speaker 5: make use of everyone is useful. Knowledge Wise men appreciate
• 3:41:57
  Speaker 5: all men, for they see the good and ease each,
• 3:42:00
  Speaker 5: and know how hard it is to make anything good.
• 3:42:03
  Speaker 5: Fools depreciate all men, not recognizing the good and selecting
• 3:42:08
  Speaker 5: the bad. One hundred and ninety six. Know your ruling star.
• 3:42:15
  Speaker 5: None so helpless as.
• 3:42:17
  Speaker 2: Not to have one.
• 3:42:18
  Speaker 5: If he is unlucky, that is because he does not
• 3:42:21
  Speaker 5: know it. Some stand high in the favor of princes
• 3:42:24
  Speaker 5: and potentates, without knowing why or wherefore, except that good
• 3:42:29
  Speaker 5: luck itself has granted them favor on easy terms, merely
• 3:42:33
  Speaker 5: requiring them to aid it with a little exertion. Others
• 3:42:37
  Speaker 5: find favor with the wise. One man is better received
• 3:42:40
  Speaker 5: by one nation than by another, or is more welcome
• 3:42:44
  Speaker 5: in one city than in another. He finds more luck
• 3:42:47
  Speaker 5: in one office or position than another. And all this,
• 3:42:50
  Speaker 5: though his qualifications are equal or even identical. Luck shuffles
• 3:42:55
  Speaker 5: the cards. How and when she will let each man
• 3:42:59
  Speaker 5: know his life luck as well as his talents, For
• 3:43:02
  Speaker 5: on this depends whether he loses or wins. Follow your
• 3:43:06
  Speaker 5: guiding star and help it without mistaking any other for it,
• 3:43:10
  Speaker 5: for that would be to miss the North, though its neighbor,
• 3:43:14
  Speaker 5: the poll star calls us to it with a voice
• 3:43:17
  Speaker 5: of thunder one hundred and ninety seven. Do not carry
• 3:43:22
  Speaker 5: fools on your back. He that does not know a
• 3:43:25
  Speaker 5: fool when he sees him is one himself. Still more
• 3:43:29
  Speaker 5: he that knows him but will not keep clear of him.
• 3:43:33
  Speaker 5: They are dangerous company and ruinous confidants. Even though their
• 3:43:38
  Speaker 5: own caution and others care keeps them in bounds for
• 3:43:41
  Speaker 5: a time, Still at length they are sure to do
• 3:43:44
  Speaker 5: or to say some foolishness, which is all the greater
• 3:43:47
  Speaker 5: for being kept so long in stock. They cannot help
• 3:43:51
  Speaker 5: another's credit, who have none of their own. They are
• 3:43:54
  Speaker 5: most unlucky, which is the nemesis of fools, and they
• 3:43:58
  Speaker 5: have to pay for one thing or the other. There
• 3:44:01
  Speaker 5: is only one thing which is not so bad about them,
• 3:44:04
  Speaker 5: And this is that though they can be of no
• 3:44:06
  Speaker 5: use to the wise, they can be of much use
• 3:44:10
  Speaker 5: to them as sign posts or as warnings. One hundred
• 3:44:15
  Speaker 5: and ninety eight Know how to transplant yourself. There are
• 3:44:20
  Speaker 5: nations with whom one must cross their borders to make
• 3:44:23
  Speaker 5: one's value felt, especially in great posts. Their native land
• 3:44:28
  Speaker 5: is always a stepmother to great talents. Envy flourishes there
• 3:44:32
  Speaker 5: on its native soil, and they remember one's small beginnings
• 3:44:35
  Speaker 5: rather than the greatness one has reached. A needle is
• 3:44:39
  Speaker 5: appreciated that comes from one end of the world to
• 3:44:42
  Speaker 5: the other, and a piece of painted glass might outviy
• 3:44:45
  Speaker 5: the diamond in value if it comes from Afar. Everything
• 3:44:50
  Speaker 5: foreign is respected, partly because it comes from Afar, partly
• 3:44:54
  Speaker 5: because it is ready made and perfect. We have seen
• 3:44:57
  Speaker 5: persons once the laughing stock of their village, and now
• 3:45:00
  Speaker 5: the wonder of the whole world, honored by their fellow
• 3:45:03
  Speaker 5: countrymen and by the foreigners among whom they dwell, by
• 3:45:07
  Speaker 5: the latter because they come from Afar, and by the
• 3:45:10
  Speaker 5: former because they are seen from Afar. The statue on
• 3:45:14
  Speaker 5: the altar is never reverenced by him who knew it
• 3:45:17
  Speaker 5: as a trunk in the garden one hundred ninety nine.
• 3:45:22
  Speaker 5: To find a proper place by merit, not by presumption.
• 3:45:27
  Speaker 5: The true road to respect is through merit, and if
• 3:45:30
  Speaker 5: industry accompany merit, the path becomes shorter. Integrity alone is
• 3:45:35
  Speaker 5: not sufficient. Push and insistence is degrading. For things arrive
• 3:45:40
  Speaker 5: by That means so be sprinkled with dust that the
• 3:45:43
  Speaker 5: discredit destroys reputation. The true way is the middle, one
• 3:45:48
  Speaker 5: half way between deserving a place and pushing oneself into
• 3:45:52
  Speaker 5: it two hundred. Leave something to wish for so as
• 3:45:58
  Speaker 5: not to be miserable from very happiness. The body must
• 3:46:02
  Speaker 5: respire and the soul aspire. If one possessed all, all
• 3:46:07
  Speaker 5: would be disillusion and discontent. Even in knowledge, there should
• 3:46:12
  Speaker 5: always be something left to know in order to arouse
• 3:46:15
  Speaker 5: curiosity and excite hope. Surfeits of happiness are fatal in
• 3:46:21
  Speaker 5: giving assistance. It is a piece of policy not to
• 3:46:24
  Speaker 5: satisfy entirely. If there is nothing left to desire, there
• 3:46:27
  Speaker 5: is everything to fear. An unhappy state of happiness. When
• 3:46:32
  Speaker 5: desire dies, fear is born. End of section twenty two.
• 3:46:40
  Speaker 5: They are all fools who seem so. Besides half the
• 3:46:43
  Speaker 5: rest folly arose with the world, and if there be
• 3:46:47
  Speaker 5: any wisdom, it is folly compared with the divine. But
• 3:46:51
  Speaker 5: the greatest fool is he who thinks he is not one,
• 3:46:54
  Speaker 5: and all others are to be wise. It is not
• 3:46:58
  Speaker 5: enough to seem wise, least of all to one's self.
• 3:47:01
  Speaker 5: He knows who does not think that he knows? And
• 3:47:05
  Speaker 5: he does not see who does not see that others see.
• 3:47:09
  Speaker 5: Though all the world is full of fools, there is
• 3:47:12
  Speaker 5: none that thinks himself one, or even suspects the fact.
• 3:47:17
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and two. Words and deeds make the perfect man.
• 3:47:22
  Speaker 5: One should speak well and act honorably. The one is
• 3:47:26
  Speaker 5: an excellence of the head, the other of the heart,
• 3:47:29
  Speaker 5: and both arise from nobility of soul. Words are the
• 3:47:34
  Speaker 5: shadows of deeds. The former are feminine, the latter masculine.
• 3:47:39
  Speaker 5: It is more important to be renowned than to convey renown.
• 3:47:43
  Speaker 5: Speech is easy action. Hard actions are the stuff of life.
• 3:47:48
  Speaker 5: Words its frippery. Eminent deeds endure striking words. Pass away
• 3:47:54
  Speaker 5: actions are the fruit of thought. If this is wise,
• 3:47:58
  Speaker 5: they are effective. Two hundred and three. Know the great
• 3:48:03
  Speaker 5: men of your age. They are not many. There is
• 3:48:08
  Speaker 5: one phoenix in the whole world, one great general, one
• 3:48:12
  Speaker 5: perfect orator, one true philosopher in a century, a really
• 3:48:17
  Speaker 5: illustrious king in several mediocrates are as numerous as they
• 3:48:22
  Speaker 5: are worthless. Eminent greatness is rare in every respect, since
• 3:48:27
  Speaker 5: it needs complete perfection, and the higher the species, the
• 3:48:30
  Speaker 5: more difficult is the highest rank in it. Many have
• 3:48:34
  Speaker 5: claimed the title great, like Caesar and Alexander, but in vain,
• 3:48:38
  Speaker 5: for without great deeds the title is a mere breath
• 3:48:41
  Speaker 5: of air. There have been few senecas and fame records,
• 3:48:46
  Speaker 5: but one Apellies two hundred and four. Attempt easy tasks
• 3:48:53
  Speaker 5: as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they
• 3:48:57
  Speaker 5: were easy. In the one case, that confidence may not
• 3:49:01
  Speaker 5: fall asleep, in the other, that it may not be dismayed.
• 3:49:06
  Speaker 5: For a thing to remain undone, nothing more is needed
• 3:49:09
  Speaker 5: than to think it done. On the other hand, patient
• 3:49:13
  Speaker 5: industry overcomes impossibilities. Great undertakings are not to be brooded over,
• 3:49:20
  Speaker 5: lest their difficulty, when seen, causes despair. Two hundred and
• 3:49:25
  Speaker 5: five know how to play the card of contempt. It
• 3:49:30
  Speaker 5: is a shrewd way of getting things you want by
• 3:49:33
  Speaker 5: affecting to depreciate them. Generally, they are not to be
• 3:49:37
  Speaker 5: had when sought for, but fall into one's hands when
• 3:49:40
  Speaker 5: one is not looking for them. As all mundane things
• 3:49:45
  Speaker 5: are but shadows of the things eternal, they share with
• 3:49:48
  Speaker 5: shadows this quality that they flee from him who follows them,
• 3:49:53
  Speaker 5: and follow him that flees from them. Contempt is besides
• 3:49:58
  Speaker 5: the most subtle form of revenge. It is a fixed
• 3:50:02
  Speaker 5: rule with the wise never to defend themselves with the pen,
• 3:50:06
  Speaker 5: for such defense always leaves a stain, and does more
• 3:50:09
  Speaker 5: to glorify one's opponent than to punish his offense. It
• 3:50:14
  Speaker 5: is a trick of the worthless to stand forth as
• 3:50:16
  Speaker 5: opponents of great men, so as to win notoriety by
• 3:50:20
  Speaker 5: a roundabout way, which they would never do by the
• 3:50:23
  Speaker 5: straight road of merit. There are many we would not
• 3:50:27
  Speaker 5: have heard of if their eminent opponents had not taken
• 3:50:30
  Speaker 5: notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, through
• 3:50:35
  Speaker 5: which they are buried in the dust of their unworthiness.
• 3:50:39
  Speaker 5: Audacious persons hope to make themselves eternally famous by setting
• 3:50:43
  Speaker 5: fire to one of the wonders of the world and
• 3:50:46
  Speaker 5: of the ages. The art of reproving scandal is to
• 3:50:50
  Speaker 5: take no notice of it. To combat it damages our
• 3:50:54
  Speaker 5: own case even if credited, it causes discredit and is
• 3:50:58
  Speaker 5: a source of satisfaction to opponent. For this shadow of
• 3:51:02
  Speaker 5: a stain dulls the luster of our fame, even if
• 3:51:05
  Speaker 5: it cannot altogether deaden it. Two hundred and six.
• 3:51:11
  Speaker 2: Know that there are vulgar natures everywhere, even.
• 3:51:14
  Speaker 5: In Corinth itself, even in the highest families. Everyone may
• 3:51:19
  Speaker 5: try the experiment within his own gaits. But there is
• 3:51:22
  Speaker 5: also such a thing as vulgar opposition to vulgarity, which
• 3:51:26
  Speaker 5: is worse. This special kind shares all the qualities of
• 3:51:30
  Speaker 5: the common kind, just as bits of a broken glass.
• 3:51:33
  Speaker 5: But this kind is still more pernicious. It speaks folly,
• 3:51:37
  Speaker 5: blames impertinently, is a disciple of ignorance, a patron of folly,
• 3:51:42
  Speaker 5: and past master of scandal. You need not notice what
• 3:51:46
  Speaker 5: it says, still less what it thinks. It is important
• 3:51:50
  Speaker 5: to know vulgarity in order to avoid it, whether it
• 3:51:53
  Speaker 5: is subjective or objective. For all folly is vulgarity, and
• 3:51:58
  Speaker 5: the vulgar consists of fools two hundred and seven. Be moderate,
• 3:52:06
  Speaker 5: one has to consider the chance of a mischance. The
• 3:52:10
  Speaker 5: impulses of the passions cause prudence to slip and there
• 3:52:14
  Speaker 5: is the risk of ruin. A moment of wrath or
• 3:52:17
  Speaker 5: of pleasure carries you on farther than many hours of calm,
• 3:52:22
  Speaker 5: and often a short diversion may put a whole life
• 3:52:25
  Speaker 5: to shame. The cunning of others uses such moments of
• 3:52:29
  Speaker 5: temptation to search the recesses of the mind. They use
• 3:52:33
  Speaker 5: thumbscrews as are wont to test the best caution. Moderation
• 3:52:39
  Speaker 5: serves as a counterplot, especially in sudden emergencies. Much thought
• 3:52:44
  Speaker 5: is needed to prevent a passion taking the bit in
• 3:52:47
  Speaker 5: the teeth, And he is doubly wise? Who is wise
• 3:52:51
  Speaker 5: on horseback? He who knows the danger may with care
• 3:52:55
  Speaker 5: pursue his journey. Light as a word may appear to
• 3:52:59
  Speaker 5: him who throws it up out it may import much
• 3:53:01
  Speaker 5: to him that hears it and ponders on it.
• 3:53:06
  Speaker 2: Two hundred and eight. Do not die of the fool's disease.
• 3:53:12
  Speaker 5: The wise generally die after they have lost their reason,
• 3:53:16
  Speaker 5: fools before they have found it. To die of the
• 3:53:19
  Speaker 5: fool's disease is to die of too much thought. Some
• 3:53:24
  Speaker 5: die because they think and feel too much. Others live
• 3:53:28
  Speaker 5: because they do not think and feel. These are fools
• 3:53:32
  Speaker 5: because they do not die of sorrow the others because
• 3:53:35
  Speaker 5: they do. A fool is he that dies of too
• 3:53:39
  Speaker 5: much knowledge.
• 3:53:40
  Speaker 2: Thus some die because they are too knowing, others because
• 3:53:44
  Speaker 2: they are not knowing enough. Yet, though many die like fools,
• 3:53:49
  Speaker 2: few die fools.
• 3:53:53
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and nine. Keep yourself free from common follies.
• 3:53:59
  Speaker 5: This is a special stroke of policy. They are of
• 3:54:03
  Speaker 5: special power because they are general, so that many who
• 3:54:06
  Speaker 5: would not be led away by any individual folly cannot
• 3:54:09
  Speaker 5: escape the universal failing. Among these are to be counted
• 3:54:14
  Speaker 5: the common prejudice that anyone is satisfied with his fortune,
• 3:54:18
  Speaker 5: however great, or unsatisfied with his intellect, however poor it is,
• 3:54:24
  Speaker 5: or again that each being discontented with his own lot
• 3:54:28
  Speaker 5: envies that of others. Or further that persons of today
• 3:54:32
  Speaker 5: praise the things of yesterday, and those here the things there.
• 3:54:37
  Speaker 5: Everything past seems best, and everything distant is more valued.
• 3:54:41
  Speaker 5: He is as great a fool that laughs at all
• 3:54:44
  Speaker 5: as he that weeps at.
• 3:54:45
  Speaker 2: All two hundred and ten.
• 3:54:49
  Speaker 5: Know how to play the card of truth tis dangerous,
• 3:54:54
  Speaker 5: Yet a good man cannot avoid speaking it. But great
• 3:54:58
  Speaker 5: skill is needed here. The most expert doctors of the
• 3:55:02
  Speaker 5: soul pay great attention to the means of sweetening the
• 3:55:06
  Speaker 5: pill of truth, for when it deals with the destroying
• 3:55:11
  Speaker 5: of illusion, it is the quintessence of bitterness. A pleasant
• 3:55:16
  Speaker 5: manner has here an opportunity for a display of skill.
• 3:55:21
  Speaker 5: With the same truth, it can flatter one and fell
• 3:55:24
  Speaker 5: another to the ground. Matters of today should be treated
• 3:55:28
  Speaker 5: as if they were long past. For those who can understand,
• 3:55:32
  Speaker 5: A word is sufficient, and if it does not suffice,
• 3:55:36
  Speaker 5: it is a case for silence. Princes must not be
• 3:55:40
  Speaker 5: cured with bitter drafts. It is therefore desirable in their
• 3:55:45
  Speaker 5: case to gild the pill of disillusion.
• 3:55:50
  Speaker 2: End of Section twenty three.
• 3:55:53
  Speaker 5: In heaven, all is bliss in hell, all misery on earth.
• 3:55:58
  Speaker 5: Between the two both won one thing and the other.
• 3:56:01
  Speaker 5: We stand between the two extremes, and therefore share both.
• 3:56:05
  Speaker 5: Fate varies. All is not good luck, nor all mischance.
• 3:56:10
  Speaker 5: This world is merely zero by itself, it is of
• 3:56:13
  Speaker 5: no value, But with Heaven in front of it, it
• 3:56:16
  Speaker 5: means much. Indifference at its ups and downs is prudent.
• 3:56:21
  Speaker 5: Nor is there any novelty for the wise. Our life
• 3:56:24
  Speaker 5: gets as complicated as a comedy as it goes on,
• 3:56:28
  Speaker 5: but the complications get gradually resolved, see that the curtain
• 3:56:32
  Speaker 5: comes down on a good denouement. Two hundred and twelve.
• 3:56:38
  Speaker 5: Keep to yourself the final touches of your art. This
• 3:56:43
  Speaker 5: is a maxim of the great masters who pride themselves
• 3:56:46
  Speaker 5: on this subtlety in teaching their pupils. One must always
• 3:56:50
  Speaker 5: remain superior, remain master. One must teach an art artfully.
• 3:56:56
  Speaker 5: The source of knowledge need not be pointed out, no
• 3:56:59
  Speaker 5: more than that of By this means, a man preserves
• 3:57:02
  Speaker 5: the respect and the dependence of others. In amusing and teaching,
• 3:57:07
  Speaker 5: you must keep to the rule, keep up expectation, and
• 3:57:10
  Speaker 5: advance in perfection. To keep a reserve is a great
• 3:57:14
  Speaker 5: rule for life and for success, especially for those in
• 3:57:18
  Speaker 5: high place two hundred and thirteen. Know how to contradict
• 3:57:25
  Speaker 5: a chief means of finding things out to embarrass others
• 3:57:28
  Speaker 5: without being embarrassed. The true thumb screw. It brings the
• 3:57:32
  Speaker 5: passions into play. Tepid incredulity acts as an emetic on secrets.
• 3:57:38
  Speaker 5: It is the key to a locked up breast, and
• 3:57:41
  Speaker 5: with great subtlety, makes a double trial of both mind
• 3:57:44
  Speaker 5: and will. A slight appreciation of another's mysterious word sends
• 3:57:49
  Speaker 5: out the profoundest secrets. Some sweet bait brings them into
• 3:57:54
  Speaker 5: the mouth till they fall from the tongue and are
• 3:57:57
  Speaker 5: caught in the net of astute deceit. By reserving your attention,
• 3:58:02
  Speaker 5: the other becomes less attentive and lets his thoughts appear,
• 3:58:06
  Speaker 5: while otherwise his heart were inscrutable. An affected doubt is
• 3:58:10
  Speaker 5: the subtlest picklock that curiosity can use to find out
• 3:58:15
  Speaker 5: what it wants to know. Also, in learning, it is
• 3:58:18
  Speaker 5: a subtle plan of the pupil to contradict the master,
• 3:58:21
  Speaker 5: who thereupon takes pains to explain the truth more thoroughly
• 3:58:25
  Speaker 5: and with more force, so that a moderate contradiction produces
• 3:58:29
  Speaker 5: complete instruction two hundred and fourteen. Do not turn one
• 3:58:36
  Speaker 5: blunder into two. It is quite usual to commit four
• 3:58:40
  Speaker 5: others in order to remedy one, or to excuse one
• 3:58:43
  Speaker 5: piece of impertinence by still another. Folly is either related
• 3:58:47
  Speaker 5: to or identical with the family of lies, for in
• 3:58:50
  Speaker 5: both cases it needs many to support one. The worst
• 3:58:54
  Speaker 5: of a bad case is having to fight it, and
• 3:58:57
  Speaker 5: worse than the ill itself is not being able to
• 3:58:59
  Speaker 5: conceal it. The annuity of one failing serves to support
• 3:59:03
  Speaker 5: many others. A wise man may make one slip, but
• 3:59:08
  Speaker 5: never two, and that only in running, not while standing still.
• 3:59:14
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and fifteen. Watch him that acts on second thoughts.
• 3:59:20
  Speaker 5: It is a device of business men to put the
• 3:59:22
  Speaker 5: opponent off his guard before attacking him, and thus to
• 3:59:25
  Speaker 5: conquer by being defeated. They dissemble their desire.
• 3:59:29
  Speaker 2: So as to attain it.
• 3:59:31
  Speaker 5: They put themselves second, so as to come out first
• 3:59:34
  Speaker 5: in the final spurt. This method rarely fails if it
• 3:59:38
  Speaker 5: is not noticed. Let therefore the attention never sleep when
• 3:59:42
  Speaker 5: the intention is so wide awake. And if the other
• 3:59:46
  Speaker 5: puts himself second so to hide his plan, put yourself
• 3:59:50
  Speaker 5: first to discover it. Prudence can discern the artifices which
• 3:59:54
  Speaker 5: such a man uses, and notices the pretext he puts
• 3:59:58
  Speaker 5: forward to gain his ends. He aims at one thing
• 4:00:01
  Speaker 5: to get another. Then he turns around smartly and fires
• 4:00:04
  Speaker 5: straight at his target. It is well to know what
• 4:00:07
  Speaker 5: you grant him, and at times it is desirable to
• 4:00:11
  Speaker 5: give him to understand that you understand two hundred sixteen.
• 4:00:18
  Speaker 5: Be expressive. This depends not only on the clearness but
• 4:00:23
  Speaker 5: also the vivacity of your thoughts. Some have an easy conception,
• 4:00:27
  Speaker 5: but a hard labor, for without clearness, the children of
• 4:00:31
  Speaker 5: the mind, thoughts and judgments cannot be brought into the world.
• 4:00:35
  Speaker 5: Many have a capacity like that of vessels with a
• 4:00:38
  Speaker 5: large mouth and a small vent. Others, again say more
• 4:00:43
  Speaker 5: than they think. Resolution for the will, expression for the
• 4:00:47
  Speaker 5: thought two great gifts. Plausible minds are applauded, Yet confused
• 4:00:52
  Speaker 5: ones are often venerated just because they are not understood.
• 4:00:56
  Speaker 5: And at times obscurity is convenient if you wish to
• 4:01:00
  Speaker 5: avoid vulgarity. Yet how shall the audience understand one that
• 4:01:05
  Speaker 5: connects no definite idea with what he says two hundred
• 4:01:10
  Speaker 5: and seventeen. Neither love nor hate forever? Trust the friends
• 4:01:16
  Speaker 5: of today as if they will be enemies tomorrow, and
• 4:01:20
  Speaker 5: that of the worst kind. As this happens in reality,
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 5: let it happen in your precaution. Do not put weapons
• 4:01:27
  Speaker 5: in the hand for deserters from friendship to wage warwith.
• 4:01:31
  Speaker 5: On the other hand, leave the door of reconciliation open
• 4:01:34
  Speaker 5: for enemies, And if it is also the gait of generosity,
• 4:01:37
  Speaker 5: so much the more safe.
• 4:01:40
  Speaker 2: The vengeance of long.
• 4:01:41
  Speaker 5: Ago is at times the torment of today, and the
• 4:01:45
  Speaker 5: joy over the ill we have done is turned to
• 4:01:48
  Speaker 5: grief two hundred and eighteen. Never act from obstinacy, but
• 4:01:55
  Speaker 5: from knowledge. All obstinacy is an excrescence of the mind,
• 4:02:01
  Speaker 5: a grand child of passion, which never did anything right.
• 4:02:05
  Speaker 5: There are persons who make a war out of everything
• 4:02:08
  Speaker 5: real banditti of intercourse. All that they undertake must end
• 4:02:12
  Speaker 5: in victory. They do not know how to get on
• 4:02:14
  Speaker 5: in peace. Such men are fatal when they rule and govern,
• 4:02:18
  Speaker 5: for they make government, rebellion, and enemies out of those
• 4:02:21
  Speaker 5: whom they ought to regard as children. They try to
• 4:02:24
  Speaker 5: effect everything with strategy, and treat it as the fruit
• 4:02:27
  Speaker 5: of their skill. But when others have recognized their perverse humor,
• 4:02:31
  Speaker 5: all revolt against them and learn to overturn their chimerical plans.
• 4:02:36
  Speaker 5: And they succeed in nothing but only heap up a
• 4:02:39
  Speaker 5: mass of troubles. Since everything serves to increase their disappointment.
• 4:02:43
  Speaker 5: They have a head turned and a heart spoilt. Nothing
• 4:02:47
  Speaker 5: can be done with such monsters except to flee from them,
• 4:02:50
  Speaker 5: even to the antipodes, where the savagery is easier to
• 4:02:53
  Speaker 5: bear than their Loathsome nature two hundred nineteen do not
• 4:03:00
  Speaker 5: pass for a hypocrite, Though such men are indispensable nowadays
• 4:03:06
  Speaker 5: be considered rather prudent than astute. Sincerity in behavior pleases all,
• 4:03:11
  Speaker 5: though not all can show it in their own affairs.
• 4:03:15
  Speaker 5: Sincerity should not degenerate into simplicity, nor sagacity into cunning.
• 4:03:21
  Speaker 5: Be rather respected as wise than feared as sly. The
• 4:03:25
  Speaker 5: open hearted are loved but deceived. The great art consists
• 4:03:29
  Speaker 5: in disclosing what is thought to be deceit. In the
• 4:03:33
  Speaker 5: Golden age, simplicity flourished in these days of iron cunning.
• 4:03:38
  Speaker 5: The reputation of being a man who knows what he
• 4:03:41
  Speaker 5: has to do is honorable and inspires confidence. But to
• 4:03:45
  Speaker 5: be considered a hypocrite is deceptive and arouses mistrust two
• 4:03:51
  Speaker 5: hundred and twenty. If you cannot clothe yourself in lion skin,
• 4:03:56
  Speaker 5: use fox felt. To follow the times is to lead them.
• 4:04:01
  Speaker 5: He that gets what he wants never loses his reputation cleverness.
• 4:04:06
  Speaker 5: When force will not do one way or another, the
• 4:04:10
  Speaker 5: king's highway of valor or the by path of cunning,
• 4:04:14
  Speaker 5: skill has affected more than force, and as stuteness has
• 4:04:18
  Speaker 5: conquered courage more often than the other way. When you
• 4:04:22
  Speaker 5: cannot get a thing, then is the time to despise
• 4:04:25
  Speaker 5: it end of section twenty four. Do not seize occasions
• 4:04:32
  Speaker 5: to embarrass yourself or others. There are some men stumbling
• 4:04:36
  Speaker 5: blocks of good manners, either for themselves or for others.
• 4:04:40
  Speaker 5: They are always on the point of some stupidity. You
• 4:04:44
  Speaker 5: meet with them easily and part from them uneasily. A
• 4:04:48
  Speaker 5: hundred annoyances a day is nothing to them. Their humor
• 4:04:51
  Speaker 5: always strokes the wrong way. Since they contradict all and
• 4:04:54
  Speaker 5: every they put on the judgment cap wrong side foremost,
• 4:04:58
  Speaker 5: and thus condemn all. Yet the greatest test of others
• 4:05:02
  Speaker 5: patience and prudence are just those who do no good
• 4:05:05
  Speaker 5: and speak ill of all. There are many monsters in
• 4:05:09
  Speaker 5: the wide realm of indecorum two hundred twenty two. Reserve
• 4:05:16
  Speaker 5: is proof of prudence. The tongue is a wild beast.
• 4:05:21
  Speaker 5: Once let loose, it is difficult to chain. It is
• 4:05:24
  Speaker 5: the pulse of the soul, by which wise men judge
• 4:05:27
  Speaker 5: of its health. By this pulse, a careful observer feels
• 4:05:31
  Speaker 5: every movement of the heart. The worst is that he
• 4:05:34
  Speaker 5: who should be most reserved is the least. The sage
• 4:05:38
  Speaker 5: saves himself from worries and embarrassments, and shows his mastery
• 4:05:43
  Speaker 5: over himself. He goes his way carefully, a janus for impartiality,
• 4:05:49
  Speaker 5: an argus for watchfulness. Truly, Momus had better placed the
• 4:05:54
  Speaker 5: eyes in the hand than the window in the breast
• 4:05:58
  Speaker 5: two hundred twenty three. Be not eccentric, neither from affectation
• 4:06:05
  Speaker 5: nor carelessness. Many have some remarkable and individual quality leading
• 4:06:11
  Speaker 5: to eccentric actions. These are more defects than excellent differences.
• 4:06:16
  Speaker 5: And just as some are known for some special ugliness,
• 4:06:19
  Speaker 5: so these for something repellent in their outward behavior. Such
• 4:06:24
  Speaker 5: eccentricities simply serve as trade marks. Through their atrocious singularity,
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 5: they cause either derision or ill will two hundred and
• 4:06:35
  Speaker 5: twenty four. Never take things against the grain, no matter
• 4:06:40
  Speaker 5: how they come. Everything has a smooth and a seamy side,
• 4:06:45
  Speaker 5: and the best weapon wounds if taken by the blade,
• 4:06:48
  Speaker 5: while the enemy's spear may be our best protection if
• 4:06:52
  Speaker 5: taken by the staff. Many things cause pain, which would
• 4:06:56
  Speaker 5: cause pleasure if you regarded their advantages. There is a
• 4:07:01
  Speaker 5: favorable and an unfavorable side to everything. The cleverness consists
• 4:07:06
  Speaker 5: in finding out the favorable. The same thing looks quite
• 4:07:10
  Speaker 5: different in another light. Look at it therefore on its
• 4:07:13
  Speaker 5: best side, and do not exchange good for evil. Thus
• 4:07:18
  Speaker 5: it HAPs that many find joy many grief in everything.
• 4:07:23
  Speaker 5: This remark is a great protection against the frowns of fortune,
• 4:07:27
  Speaker 5: and a weighty rule of life for all times and
• 4:07:30
  Speaker 5: all conditions. Two hundred and twenty five. Know your chief fault.
• 4:07:38
  Speaker 5: There lives none that has not in himself a counterbalance
• 4:07:41
  Speaker 5: to his most conspicuous merit. If this be nourished by desire,
• 4:07:45
  Speaker 5: it may grow to be a tyrant. Commence war against it,
• 4:07:50
  Speaker 5: summoning prudence as your ally. And the first thing to
• 4:07:53
  Speaker 5: do is the public manifesto. For an evil, once known,
• 4:07:57
  Speaker 5: is soon conquered, especially when the one unafflicted regards it
• 4:08:01
  Speaker 5: in the same light as the onlookers. To be master
• 4:08:05
  Speaker 5: of one's self, one should know oneself. If the chief
• 4:08:09
  Speaker 5: imperfections surrender, the rest will come to an end two
• 4:08:14
  Speaker 5: hundred and twenty six. Take care to be obliging. Most
• 4:08:21
  Speaker 5: talk and act not as they are, but as they
• 4:08:23
  Speaker 5: are obliged. To persuade people of ill is easy for
• 4:08:28
  Speaker 5: any since the ill is easily credited, even when at
• 4:08:31
  Speaker 5: times it is incredible. The best we have depends on
• 4:08:35
  Speaker 5: the opinion of others. Some are satisfied if they have
• 4:08:39
  Speaker 5: right on their side, But that is not enough, for
• 4:08:42
  Speaker 5: it must be assisted by energy. To oblige persons often
• 4:08:46
  Speaker 5: costs little and helps much. With words, you may purchase
• 4:08:51
  Speaker 5: deeds in this great house of the world. There is
• 4:08:54
  Speaker 5: no chamber so hid that it may not be wanted
• 4:08:57
  Speaker 5: one day in the year, and then you would miss it. However,
• 4:09:00
  Speaker 5: little is its worth. Every one speaks of a subject
• 4:09:04
  Speaker 5: according to his feelings two hundred and twenty seven. Do
• 4:09:11
  Speaker 5: not be the slave of first impressions. Some marry the
• 4:09:15
  Speaker 5: very first account they hear. All others must live with
• 4:09:19
  Speaker 5: them as concubines. But as a lie has swift legs,
• 4:09:22
  Speaker 5: the truth with them can find no lodging. We should
• 4:09:26
  Speaker 5: neither satisfy our will with the first object, nor our
• 4:09:29
  Speaker 5: mind with the first proposition, For that were superficial. Many
• 4:09:34
  Speaker 5: are like new casks, who keep the scent of the
• 4:09:37
  Speaker 5: first liquor they hold, be it good or bad. If
• 4:09:41
  Speaker 5: this superficiality becomes known, it becomes fatal, For then it
• 4:09:46
  Speaker 5: gives opportunity for cunning mischief. The ill minded hasten to
• 4:09:50
  Speaker 5: color the mind of the credulous. Always therefore leave room
• 4:09:55
  Speaker 5: for a second hearing. Alexander always kept one ear for
• 4:09:58
  Speaker 5: the other side, wait for the second or even third
• 4:10:02
  Speaker 5: edition of news. To be the slave of your impressions,
• 4:10:06
  Speaker 5: argues want of capacity, and is not far from being
• 4:10:10
  Speaker 5: the slave of your passions. Two hundred and twenty eight.
• 4:10:17
  Speaker 5: Do not be a scandalmonger, still less past for one,
• 4:10:21
  Speaker 5: for that means to be considered a slanderer. Do not
• 4:10:25
  Speaker 5: be witty at the cost of others. It is easy
• 4:10:28
  Speaker 5: but hateful. All men have their revenge on such an
• 4:10:32
  Speaker 5: one by speaking ill of him, And as they are
• 4:10:35
  Speaker 5: many and he but one, he is more likely to
• 4:10:38
  Speaker 5: be overcome than they convinced. Evil should never be our pleasure,
• 4:10:43
  Speaker 5: and therefore never our theme. The backbiter is always hated,
• 4:10:48
  Speaker 5: and if now and then one of the great consorts
• 4:10:50
  Speaker 5: with him, it is less from pleasure in his sneers
• 4:10:54
  Speaker 5: than from esteem for his insight. He that speaks ill
• 4:10:58
  Speaker 5: will always worse two hundred and twenty nine. Plan out
• 4:11:06
  Speaker 5: your life wisely. Not a chance will have it, but
• 4:11:11
  Speaker 5: with prudence and foresight. Without amusements, it is worrisome. Like
• 4:11:16
  Speaker 5: a long journey where there are no inns. Manifold knowledge
• 4:11:20
  Speaker 5: gives manifold pleasure. The first day's journey of a noble
• 4:11:24
  Speaker 5: life should be passed in conversing with the dead. We
• 4:11:28
  Speaker 5: live to know and to know ourselves. Hence true books
• 4:11:32
  Speaker 5: make us truly men. The second day should be spent
• 4:11:36
  Speaker 5: with the living, seeing and noticing all the good in
• 4:11:39
  Speaker 5: the world. Everything is not to be found in a
• 4:11:42
  Speaker 5: single country. The universal Father has divided his gifts, and
• 4:11:46
  Speaker 5: at times has given the richest dower to the ugliest.
• 4:11:50
  Speaker 5: The third day is entirely for oneself. The last felicity
• 4:11:55
  Speaker 5: is to be a philosopher two hundred and thirds open
• 4:12:02
  Speaker 5: your eyes betimes. Not all that see have their eyes open,
• 4:12:08
  Speaker 5: nor do all those see that look. To come up
• 4:12:12
  Speaker 5: to things too late is more worry than help. Some
• 4:12:15
  Speaker 5: just begin to see when there is nothing more to see.
• 4:12:18
  Speaker 5: They pull their houses about their ears before they come
• 4:12:21
  Speaker 5: to themselves. It is difficult to give sense to those
• 4:12:24
  Speaker 5: who have no power of will, still more difficult to
• 4:12:27
  Speaker 5: give energy to those who have no sense. Those who
• 4:12:31
  Speaker 5: surround them play with them a game of blind man's
• 4:12:35
  Speaker 5: buff making them the butts of others, And because they
• 4:12:38
  Speaker 5: are hard of hearing, they do not open their eyes
• 4:12:41
  Speaker 5: to see. There are often those who encourage such insensibility
• 4:12:46
  Speaker 5: on which their very existence depends. Unhappy steed whose rider
• 4:12:51
  Speaker 5: is blind, it will never grow sleek. End of Section
• 4:12:57
  Speaker 5: twenty five. Never let things be seen half finished. They
• 4:13:03
  Speaker 5: can only be enjoyed when complete. All beginnings are misshapen,
• 4:13:07
  Speaker 5: and this deformity sticks in the imagination. The recollection of
• 4:13:12
  Speaker 5: having seen a thing imperfect disturbs our enjoyment of it
• 4:13:16
  Speaker 5: when completed. To swallow something great at one gulp may
• 4:13:20
  Speaker 5: disturb the judgment of the separate parts, but satisfies the taste.
• 4:13:25
  Speaker 5: Till a thing is everything, it is nothing, and while
• 4:13:28
  Speaker 5: it is in process of being, it is still nothing.
• 4:13:31
  Speaker 5: To see the tastiest dishes prepared arouses rather disgusted than appetite.
• 4:13:37
  Speaker 5: Let each great master take care not to let his
• 4:13:39
  Speaker 5: work be seen in its embryonic stages. They might take
• 4:13:43
  Speaker 5: this lesson from Dame Nature, who never brings the child
• 4:13:46
  Speaker 5: to the light till it is fit to be seen.
• 4:13:50
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and thirty two. Have a touch of the traitor.
• 4:13:56
  Speaker 5: Life should not be all thought, There should be action
• 4:13:59
  Speaker 5: as well. Very wise folk are generally easily deceived, for
• 4:14:03
  Speaker 5: while they know out of the way things, they do
• 4:14:06
  Speaker 5: not know the ordinary things of life, which are much
• 4:14:09
  Speaker 5: more needful. The observation of higher things, leaves them no
• 4:14:12
  Speaker 5: time for things close at hand, since they know not
• 4:14:16
  Speaker 5: the very first thing they should know, and what everybody
• 4:14:18
  Speaker 5: knows so well, they are either considered or thought ignorant
• 4:14:21
  Speaker 5: by the superficial multitude. Let therefore the prudent take care
• 4:14:26
  Speaker 5: to have something of the traitor about him, enough to
• 4:14:28
  Speaker 5: prevent him being deceived and so laughed at. Be a
• 4:14:32
  Speaker 5: man adapted to the daily round, which, if not the highest,
• 4:14:36
  Speaker 5: is the most necessary thing in life. Of What use
• 4:14:39
  Speaker 5: is knowledge if it is not practical? And to know
• 4:14:42
  Speaker 5: how to live is nowadays the true knowledge two hundred
• 4:14:48
  Speaker 5: and thirty three. Let not the proffered morsel be distasteful,
• 4:14:54
  Speaker 5: otherwise it gives more discomfort than pleasure. Some displease when
• 4:14:58
  Speaker 5: attempting to oblige, because they take no account of varieties
• 4:15:02
  Speaker 5: of taste. What is flattery to one is an offense
• 4:15:05
  Speaker 5: to another, And in attempting to be useful, one may
• 4:15:08
  Speaker 5: become insulting. It often costs more to displease a man
• 4:15:13
  Speaker 5: than it would have cost to please him. You thereby
• 4:15:16
  Speaker 5: lose both gift and thanks, because you have lost the
• 4:15:19
  Speaker 5: compass which steers for pleasure. He who knows not another's
• 4:15:23
  Speaker 5: taste knows not how to please him. Thus it HAPs
• 4:15:26
  Speaker 5: that many insult where they mean to praise, and get
• 4:15:29
  Speaker 5: soundly punished, and rightly so. Others desire to charm by
• 4:15:33
  Speaker 5: their conversation, and only succeed in boring by their loquacity
• 4:15:39
  Speaker 5: two hundred and thirty four. Never trust your honor to
• 4:15:43
  Speaker 5: another unless you have his in pledge. Arrange that silence
• 4:15:49
  Speaker 5: is a mutual advantage. Disclosure a danger to both. Where
• 4:15:53
  Speaker 5: honor is at stake, you must act with a partner
• 4:15:56
  Speaker 5: so that each must be careful of the other's honor
• 4:15:58
  Speaker 5: for the sake of his own. Never entrust your honor
• 4:16:01
  Speaker 5: to another. But if you have, let caution surpass prudence.
• 4:16:06
  Speaker 5: Let the danger be in common and the risk mutual,
• 4:16:09
  Speaker 5: so that your partner cannot turn King's evidence. Two hundred
• 4:16:14
  Speaker 5: and thirty five. Know how to ask with some nothing easier,
• 4:16:20
  Speaker 5: With others, nothing so difficult, For there are men who
• 4:16:24
  Speaker 5: cannot refuse. With them, no skill is required. But with
• 4:16:27
  Speaker 5: others their first word at all times is no. With them,
• 4:16:32
  Speaker 5: great art is required, and with all the propitious moment,
• 4:16:36
  Speaker 5: surprise them when in a pleasant mood, when a repast
• 4:16:39
  Speaker 5: of body or soul has just left them refreshed, if
• 4:16:42
  Speaker 5: only their shrewdness has not anticipated the cunning of the applicant.
• 4:16:46
  Speaker 5: The days of joy are the days of favor, for
• 4:16:49
  Speaker 5: joy overflows from the inner man into the outward creation.
• 4:16:53
  Speaker 5: It is no use applying when another has been refused,
• 4:16:56
  Speaker 5: since the objection to a no has just been overcome,
• 4:17:00
  Speaker 5: Nor is it a good time after sorrow. To oblige
• 4:17:03
  Speaker 5: a person beforehand is a sure way unless he is
• 4:17:06
  Speaker 5: mean two hundred and thirty six. Make an obligation beforehand
• 4:17:14
  Speaker 5: of what would have to be a reward afterwards. This
• 4:17:18
  Speaker 5: is a stroke of subtle policy. To grant favors before
• 4:17:21
  Speaker 5: they are deserved is a proof of being obliging. Favors
• 4:17:26
  Speaker 5: thus granted beforehand have two great advantages. The promptness of
• 4:17:31
  Speaker 5: the gift obliges the recipient the more strongly, and the
• 4:17:35
  Speaker 5: same gift, which would afterwards be merely a reward, is
• 4:17:38
  Speaker 5: beforehand an obligation. This is a subtle means of transforming obligations,
• 4:17:44
  Speaker 5: since that which would have forced the superior to reward
• 4:17:47
  Speaker 5: is changed into one that obliges the one obliged to
• 4:17:51
  Speaker 5: satisfy the obligation. But this is only suitable for men
• 4:17:55
  Speaker 5: who have the feeling of obligation, since with men of
• 4:17:58
  Speaker 5: lower stamp, the honorarium paid beforehand acts rather as a
• 4:18:02
  Speaker 5: bit than as a spur two hundred and thirty seven.
• 4:18:08
  Speaker 5: Never share the secrets of your superiors. You may think
• 4:18:12
  Speaker 5: you will share pears, but you will only share pairings.
• 4:18:16
  Speaker 5: Many have been ruined by being confidants. They are like
• 4:18:19
  Speaker 5: SOPs of bread used as forks. They run the same
• 4:18:23
  Speaker 5: risk of being eaten up afterwards. It is no favor
• 4:18:26
  Speaker 5: in a prince to share a secret. It is only
• 4:18:29
  Speaker 5: a relief. Many break the mirror that reminds them of
• 4:18:32
  Speaker 5: their ugliness. We do not like seeing those who have
• 4:18:36
  Speaker 5: seen us as we are, Nor is he seen in
• 4:18:39
  Speaker 5: a favorable light who has seen us in an unfavorable one.
• 4:18:43
  Speaker 5: None ought to be too much beholden to us, least
• 4:18:46
  Speaker 5: of all one of the great, unless it be for
• 4:18:48
  Speaker 5: benefits done him, rather than for such favors received from him.
• 4:18:53
  Speaker 5: Especially dangerous are secrets entrusted to friends. He that communicates
• 4:18:58
  Speaker 5: his secret to another makes himself that other's slave. With
• 4:19:03
  Speaker 5: a prince, this is an intolerable position which cannot last.
• 4:19:07
  Speaker 5: He will desire to recover his lost liberty, and to
• 4:19:10
  Speaker 5: gain it will overturn everything, including right and reason. Accordingly,
• 4:19:15
  Speaker 5: neither tell secrets nor listen to them.
• 4:19:20
  Speaker 6: Thirty eight.
• 4:19:21
  Speaker 5: Know what is wanting in yourself. Many would have been
• 4:19:26
  Speaker 5: great personages if they had not had something wanting, without
• 4:19:29
  Speaker 5: which they could not rise to the height of perfection.
• 4:19:33
  Speaker 5: It is remarkable with some that they could be much
• 4:19:35
  Speaker 5: better if they could be better in something they do not.
• 4:19:39
  Speaker 5: Perhaps take themselves seriously enough to do justice to their
• 4:19:42
  Speaker 5: great abilities. Some are wanting in geniality of disposition, a
• 4:19:47
  Speaker 5: quality which their entourage soon find the want of, especially
• 4:19:52
  Speaker 5: if they are in high office. Some are without organizing
• 4:19:55
  Speaker 5: the ability. Others lack moderation. In all such cases, careful
• 4:20:00
  Speaker 5: man may make of a habit a second nature two
• 4:20:05
  Speaker 5: hundred and thirty nine.
• 4:20:07
  Speaker 2: Do not be captious.
• 4:20:09
  Speaker 5: It is much more important to be sensible. To know
• 4:20:12
  Speaker 5: more than is necessary blunts your weapons for fine points
• 4:20:16
  Speaker 5: generally bend or break common sense. Truth is the surest
• 4:20:21
  Speaker 5: It is well to know, but not to niggle. Lengthy
• 4:20:25
  Speaker 5: comments lead to disputes. It is much better to have
• 4:20:28
  Speaker 5: sound sense, which does not wander from the matter in hand.
• 4:20:33
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and forty. Make use of folly. The wisest
• 4:20:39
  Speaker 5: play this card at times, and there are times when
• 4:20:42
  Speaker 5: the greatest wisdom lies in seeming not to be wise.
• 4:20:47
  Speaker 5: You need not be unwise, but merely affect unwisdom. To
• 4:20:51
  Speaker 5: be wise with fools and foolish with the wise were
• 4:20:54
  Speaker 5: of little use. Speak to each in his own language.
• 4:20:58
  Speaker 5: He is no fool who affects folly, but he is
• 4:21:01
  Speaker 5: who suffers from it. Ingenuous folly, rather than the pretended,
• 4:21:06
  Speaker 5: is the true foolishness, since cleverness has arrived at such
• 4:21:10
  Speaker 5: a pitch. To be well liked, one must dress in
• 4:21:14
  Speaker 5: the skin of the simplest of animals. End of Section
• 4:21:21
  Speaker 5: twenty six. Put up with raillery, but do not practice it.
• 4:21:26
  Speaker 5: The first is a form of courtesy. The second may
• 4:21:29
  Speaker 5: lead to embarrassment. To snarl at play has something of
• 4:21:33
  Speaker 5: the beast, and seems to have more audacious raillery is delightful.
• 4:21:38
  Speaker 5: To stand it proves power to show oneself annoyed causes
• 4:21:43
  Speaker 5: the other to be annoyed. Best leave it alone. The
• 4:21:46
  Speaker 5: surest way not to put on the cap that might fit.
• 4:21:50
  Speaker 5: The most serious matters have arisen out of jests. Nothing
• 4:21:54
  Speaker 5: requires more tact and attention. Before you begin to joke,
• 4:21:59
  Speaker 5: Know how far are the subject of your joke is
• 4:22:01
  Speaker 5: able to bear it two hundred and forty two. Push advantages.
• 4:22:09
  Speaker 5: Some put all their strength in the commencement and never
• 4:22:12
  Speaker 5: carry a thing to a conclusion. They invent but never execute.
• 4:22:17
  Speaker 5: These be paltering spirits. They obtain no fame, for they
• 4:22:21
  Speaker 5: sustain no game to the end. Everything stops at a
• 4:22:25
  Speaker 5: single stop. This arises in sum from impatience, which is
• 4:22:29
  Speaker 5: the failing of the Spaniard, as patience is the virtue
• 4:22:33
  Speaker 5: of the Belgian. The latter bring things to an end.
• 4:22:36
  Speaker 5: The former come to an end with things. They sweat
• 4:22:40
  Speaker 5: away till the obstacle is surmounted, but content themselves with
• 4:22:44
  Speaker 5: surmounting it. They do not know how to push the
• 4:22:47
  Speaker 5: victory home. They prove that they can, but will not.
• 4:22:51
  Speaker 5: But this proves always that they cannot or have no stability.
• 4:22:55
  Speaker 5: If the undertaking is good, why not finish it? If
• 4:22:59
  Speaker 5: it is bad, why undertake it? Strike down your quarry,
• 4:23:02
  Speaker 5: if you are wise, be not content to flush it
• 4:23:07
  Speaker 5: two hundred forty three. Do not be too much of
• 4:23:10
  Speaker 5: a dove. Alternate the cunning of the serpent with the
• 4:23:14
  Speaker 5: candor of the dove. Nothing is easier than to deceive
• 4:23:19
  Speaker 5: an honest man. He believes in much who lies in naught,
• 4:23:23
  Speaker 5: who does no deceit has much confidence. To be deceived
• 4:23:27
  Speaker 5: is not always due to stupidity. It may arise from
• 4:23:30
  Speaker 5: sheer goodness. There are two sets of men who can
• 4:23:34
  Speaker 5: guard themselves from injury, those who have experienced it at
• 4:23:38
  Speaker 5: their own cost, and those who have observed it at
• 4:23:41
  Speaker 5: the cost of others. Prudence should use as much suspicion
• 4:23:45
  Speaker 5: as subtlety uses snares, and none need be so good
• 4:23:50
  Speaker 5: as to enable others to do him. Ill combine in
• 4:23:53
  Speaker 5: yourself the dove and the serpent, not as a monster,
• 4:23:57
  Speaker 5: but as a prodigy two hundred forty four. Create a
• 4:24:04
  Speaker 5: feeling of obligation. Some transform favors received into favors bestowed,
• 4:24:11
  Speaker 5: and seem or let it be thought, that they are
• 4:24:13
  Speaker 5: doing a favor when receiving one. There are some so
• 4:24:17
  Speaker 5: astute that they get honor by asking and by their
• 4:24:21
  Speaker 5: own advantage with applause from others. They manage matters so
• 4:24:25
  Speaker 5: cleverly that they seem to be doing others a service
• 4:24:28
  Speaker 5: when receiving one from them. They transpose the order of
• 4:24:32
  Speaker 5: obligation with extraordinary skill, or at least render it doubtful.
• 4:24:36
  Speaker 5: Who has obliged whom they buy the best by praising it,
• 4:24:40
  Speaker 5: and make a flattering honor out of the pleasure they express.
• 4:24:44
  Speaker 5: They oblige by their courtesy, and thus make men beholden
• 4:24:47
  Speaker 5: for what they themselves should be beholden. In this way
• 4:24:51
  Speaker 5: they conjugate, to oblige in the active instead of in
• 4:24:55
  Speaker 5: the passive voice, thereby proving themselves better politicians than Grammarians.
• 4:25:02
  Speaker 5: This is a subtle piece of finesse. A still greater
• 4:25:05
  Speaker 5: is to perceive it, and to retaliate on such fool's
• 4:25:08
  Speaker 5: bargains by paying in their own coin, and so coming
• 4:25:12
  Speaker 5: by your own again two hundred and forty five. Original
• 4:25:18
  Speaker 5: and out of the way views are signs of superior ability.
• 4:25:24
  Speaker 5: We do not think much of a man who never
• 4:25:26
  Speaker 5: contradicts us. That is no sign he loves us, but
• 4:25:29
  Speaker 5: rather that he loves himself.
• 4:25:31
  Speaker 4: Do not be.
• 4:25:32
  Speaker 5: Deceived by flattery, and thereby have to pay for it,
• 4:25:35
  Speaker 5: rather condemn it. Besides, you may take credit for being
• 4:25:39
  Speaker 5: censured by some, especially if they are.
• 4:25:41
  Speaker 2: Those of whom the good speak ill.
• 4:25:44
  Speaker 5: On the contrary, it should disturb us if our affairs
• 4:25:47
  Speaker 5: please everyone, for that is a sign that they are
• 4:25:50
  Speaker 5: of little worth. Perfection is for the few two hundred
• 4:25:55
  Speaker 5: and forty six never offer satisfaction unless it is demanded,
• 4:26:02
  Speaker 5: and if they do demand it, it is a kind
• 4:26:04
  Speaker 5: of crime to give more than necessary. To excuse one's
• 4:26:08
  Speaker 5: self before there is occasion is to accuse one's self.
• 4:26:13
  Speaker 5: To draw blood in full health gives the hint to
• 4:26:16
  Speaker 5: ill will. An excuse unexpected arouses suspicion from its slumpers.
• 4:26:22
  Speaker 5: Nor need a shrewd person show himself aware of another's suspicion,
• 4:26:26
  Speaker 5: which is equivalent to seeking out offense he had best
• 4:26:30
  Speaker 5: disarmed distrust by the integrity of his conduct two hundred
• 4:26:36
  Speaker 5: forty seven. Know a little more, live a little less.
• 4:26:42
  Speaker 5: Some say the opposite. To be at ease is better
• 4:26:46
  Speaker 5: than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us
• 4:26:49
  Speaker 5: but time, which even he has who has nothing else.
• 4:26:53
  Speaker 5: It is equally unfortunate to waste your precious life in
• 4:26:56
  Speaker 5: mechanical tasks or in a profusion of importance and work.
• 4:27:01
  Speaker 5: Do not heap up occupation and thereby envy. Otherwise you
• 4:27:05
  Speaker 5: complicate life and exhaust your mind. Some wish to apply
• 4:27:08
  Speaker 5: the same principle to knowledge. But unless one knows, one
• 4:27:12
  Speaker 5: does not truly live two hundred and forty eight. Do
• 4:27:18
  Speaker 5: not go with the last speaker. There are persons who
• 4:27:22
  Speaker 5: go by the latest edition, and thereby go two irrational extremes.
• 4:27:27
  Speaker 5: Their feelings and desires are of wax. The last comer
• 4:27:31
  Speaker 5: stamps them with his seal and obliterates all previous impressions.
• 4:27:35
  Speaker 5: These never gain anything, for they lose everything, so soon
• 4:27:40
  Speaker 5: every one dies them with his own color. They are
• 4:27:43
  Speaker 5: of no use as confidants. They remain children their whole life.
• 4:27:47
  Speaker 5: Owing to this instability of feeling and volition, they halt along,
• 4:27:51
  Speaker 5: cripples in will and thought, and totter from one side
• 4:27:54
  Speaker 5: of the road to the other two hundred forty nine.
• 4:28:00
  Speaker 5: Never begin life with what should end it. Many take
• 4:28:04
  Speaker 5: their amusement at the beginning, putting off anxiety to the end.
• 4:28:08
  Speaker 5: But the essential should come first, and accessories afterwards. If
• 4:28:12
  Speaker 5: there is room. Others wish to triumph before they have
• 4:28:16
  Speaker 5: fought others again, begin with learning things of little consequence,
• 4:28:20
  Speaker 5: and leave studies that would bring them fame and gain
• 4:28:23
  Speaker 5: to the end of life. Another is just about to
• 4:28:26
  Speaker 5: make his fortune when he disappears from the scene. Method
• 4:28:30
  Speaker 5: is essential for knowledge and for life two hundred and fifty.
• 4:28:36
  Speaker 5: When to change the conversation when they talk scandal. When
• 4:28:42
  Speaker 5: some all goes contrariwise, there no is yes and their
• 4:28:45
  Speaker 5: yes no. If they speak ill of a thing, it
• 4:28:48
  Speaker 5: is the highest praise for what they want for themselves
• 4:28:51
  Speaker 5: they depreciate to others. To praise a thing is not
• 4:28:55
  Speaker 5: always to speak well of it. For some, to avoid
• 4:28:58
  Speaker 5: praising what's good, praise what's bad. And nothing is good
• 4:29:02
  Speaker 5: for him for whom nothing is bad. End of Section
• 4:29:07
  Speaker 5: twenty seven. Use human means as if there were no
• 4:29:12
  Speaker 5: divine ones, and divine as if there were no human ones.
• 4:29:17
  Speaker 5: A masterly rule. It needs no comment two hundred fifty two.
• 4:29:25
  Speaker 5: Neither belong entirely to yourself nor entirely to others. Both
• 4:29:31
  Speaker 5: are mean forms of tyranny. To desire to be all
• 4:29:34
  Speaker 5: for oneself is the same as desiring to have all
• 4:29:38
  Speaker 5: for oneself. Such persons will not yield a jot or
• 4:29:43
  Speaker 5: lose a tittle of their comfort. They are rarely beholden,
• 4:29:47
  Speaker 5: lean on their own luck, and their crutch generally breaks.
• 4:29:51
  Speaker 5: It is convenient at times to belong to others that
• 4:29:54
  Speaker 5: others may belong to us. And he that holds public
• 4:29:58
  Speaker 5: office is no more nor less than a public slave.
• 4:30:02
  Speaker 5: Or let a man give up both birth and burthen,
• 4:30:05
  Speaker 5: as the old woman said to Hadrian. On the other hand,
• 4:30:09
  Speaker 5: others are all for others, which is folly that always
• 4:30:13
  Speaker 5: flies to extremes, in this case, in a most unfortunate manner.
• 4:30:17
  Speaker 5: No day, no hour is their own. But they have
• 4:30:20
  Speaker 5: so much, too much of others, that they may be
• 4:30:23
  Speaker 5: called the slaves of all. This applies even to knowledge,
• 4:30:27
  Speaker 5: where a man may know everything for others and nothing
• 4:30:30
  Speaker 5: for himself. A shrewd man knows that others, when they
• 4:30:34
  Speaker 5: seek him, do not seek him, but their advantage in
• 4:30:38
  Speaker 5: him and by him two hundred fifty three. Do not
• 4:30:43
  Speaker 5: explain over much. Most men do not esteem what they understand,
• 4:30:49
  Speaker 5: and venerate what they do not see to be valued.
• 4:30:53
  Speaker 5: Things should cost dear. What is not understood becomes overrated.
• 4:30:59
  Speaker 5: You have to app a wiser and more prudent than
• 4:31:02
  Speaker 5: he requires with whom you deal, if you desire to
• 4:31:05
  Speaker 5: give him a high opinion of you. Yet in this
• 4:31:08
  Speaker 5: there should be moderation and no excess. And though with
• 4:31:12
  Speaker 5: sensible people common sense holds its own, with most men,
• 4:31:16
  Speaker 5: a little elaboration is necessary. Give them no time for blame.
• 4:31:21
  Speaker 5: Occupy them with understanding your drift. Many praise a thing
• 4:31:25
  Speaker 5: without being able to tell why if asked. The reason
• 4:31:29
  Speaker 5: is that they venerate the unknown as a mystery and
• 4:31:32
  Speaker 5: praise it because they hear it praised. Two hundred and
• 4:31:37
  Speaker 5: fifty four. Never despise an evil, however small, for they
• 4:31:44
  Speaker 5: never come alone. They are linked together like pieces of
• 4:31:47
  Speaker 5: good fortune. Fortune and misfortune generally go to find their fellows. Hence,
• 4:31:54
  Speaker 5: all avoid the unlucky and associate with the fortunate. Even
• 4:31:59
  Speaker 5: the doves, with all their innocence, resort to the whitest walls.
• 4:32:04
  Speaker 5: Everything fails with the unfortunate himself. His words and his
• 4:32:08
  Speaker 5: luck do not wake misfortune when she sleeps. One slip
• 4:32:14
  Speaker 5: is a little thing, yet some fatal loss may follow
• 4:32:17
  Speaker 5: it till you do not know where it will end.
• 4:32:20
  Speaker 5: For just as no happiness is perfect, so no ill
• 4:32:24
  Speaker 5: luck is complete. Patience serves with what comes from above,
• 4:32:29
  Speaker 5: prudence with that from below. Two hundred fifty five. Do
• 4:32:36
  Speaker 5: good a little at a time, but often one should
• 4:32:40
  Speaker 5: never give beyond the possibility of return. Who gives much
• 4:32:45
  Speaker 5: does not give but sells, nor drain gratitude to the dregs.
• 4:32:50
  Speaker 5: For when the recipient sees all return is impossible, he
• 4:32:54
  Speaker 5: breaks off correspondence. With many persons, it is not necessary
• 4:32:58
  Speaker 5: to do more than over them with favors to lose
• 4:33:01
  Speaker 5: them altogether. They cannot repay you, and so they retire,
• 4:33:06
  Speaker 5: preferring rather to be enemies than perpetual debtors. The idol
• 4:33:11
  Speaker 5: never wishes to see before him the sculptor who shaped him,
• 4:33:14
  Speaker 5: nor does the benefited wish to see his benefactor always
• 4:33:18
  Speaker 5: before his eyes. There is a great subtlety in giving
• 4:33:22
  Speaker 5: what costs little, yet is much desired, so that it
• 4:33:26
  Speaker 5: is esteemed the more. Two hundred and fifty six go
• 4:33:32
  Speaker 5: armed against discourtesy and against perfidy, presumption, and all other
• 4:33:38
  Speaker 5: kinds of folly. There is much of it in the world,
• 4:33:42
  Speaker 5: and prudence lies in avoiding a meeting with it. Arm
• 4:33:46
  Speaker 5: yourself each day before the mirror of attention with the
• 4:33:49
  Speaker 5: weapons of defense. Thus you will beat down the attacks
• 4:33:53
  Speaker 5: of folly. Be prepared for the occasion, and do not
• 4:33:56
  Speaker 5: expose your reputation to vulgar contingencies. Armed with prudence, a
• 4:34:02
  Speaker 5: man cannot be disarmed by impertinence. The road of human
• 4:34:06
  Speaker 5: intercourse is difficult, for it is full of ruts which
• 4:34:10
  Speaker 5: may jolt our credit. Best to take a byway, taking
• 4:34:14
  Speaker 5: ulysses as a model of shrewdness. Feigned misunderstanding is of
• 4:34:19
  Speaker 5: great value in such matters. Aided by politeness, it helps
• 4:34:24
  Speaker 5: us over all and is often the only way out
• 4:34:27
  Speaker 5: of difficulties two hundred and fifty seven. Never let matters
• 4:34:33
  Speaker 5: come to a rupture, for our reputation always comes injured
• 4:34:38
  Speaker 5: out of the encounter. Every One may be of importance
• 4:34:41
  Speaker 5: as an enemy, if not as a friend. Few can
• 4:34:45
  Speaker 5: do us good. Almost any can do us harm. In
• 4:34:49
  Speaker 5: Jove's bosom itself, even his eagle never nestles securely from
• 4:34:54
  Speaker 5: the day he has quarreled with a beetle. Hidden foes
• 4:34:59
  Speaker 5: use the paw of the declared enemy to stir up
• 4:35:01
  Speaker 5: the fire, and meanwhile they lie in ambush. For such
• 4:35:05
  Speaker 5: an occasion, friends provoked become the bitterest of enemies. They
• 4:35:10
  Speaker 5: cover their own failings with the faults of others. Every
• 4:35:13
  Speaker 5: One speaks as things seem to him, and things seem
• 4:35:17
  Speaker 5: as he wishes them to appear. All blame us at
• 4:35:21
  Speaker 5: the beginning for want of foresight, at the end, for
• 4:35:24
  Speaker 5: lack of patience. At all times for imprudence. If, however,
• 4:35:29
  Speaker 5: a breach is inevitable, let it rather be excused as
• 4:35:33
  Speaker 5: a slackening of friendship than by an outburst of wrath.
• 4:35:37
  Speaker 5: Here is a good application of the saying about a
• 4:35:40
  Speaker 5: good retreat two hundred and fifty eight. Find out someone
• 4:35:47
  Speaker 5: to share your troubles. You will never be all alone,
• 4:35:51
  Speaker 5: even in dangers, nor bear all the burden of hate.
• 4:35:56
  Speaker 5: Some think, by their high position, to carry off the
• 4:35:58
  Speaker 5: whole glory of success, and have to bear the whole
• 4:36:01
  Speaker 5: humiliation of defeat. In this way they have none to
• 4:36:05
  Speaker 5: excuse them, none to share the blame. Neither fate nor
• 4:36:10
  Speaker 5: the mob are so bold against two. Hence the wise physician,
• 4:36:15
  Speaker 5: if he has failed to cure, looks out for some
• 4:36:17
  Speaker 5: one who, under the name of a consultation, may help
• 4:36:21
  Speaker 5: him carry out the corpse. Share weight and woe, for
• 4:36:25
  Speaker 5: misfortune falls with double force on him that stands alone
• 4:36:31
  Speaker 5: two hundred fifty nine. Anticipate injuries and turn them into favors.
• 4:36:37
  Speaker 5: It is wiser to avoid than.
• 4:36:39
  Speaker 2: To revenge them.
• 4:36:40
  Speaker 5: It is an uncommon piece of shrewdness to change a
• 4:36:43
  Speaker 5: rival into a confidant, or transform into guards of honor
• 4:36:47
  Speaker 5: those who were aiming attacks at us. It helps much
• 4:36:51
  Speaker 5: to know how to oblige, for he leaves no time
• 4:36:54
  Speaker 5: for injuries, that fills it up with gratitude. That is
• 4:36:58
  Speaker 5: true savoir faire. To turn our anxieties into pleasures. Try
• 4:37:03
  Speaker 5: and make a confidential relation out of ill will itself
• 4:37:08
  Speaker 5: two hundred and sixty. We belong to none and none
• 4:37:13
  Speaker 5: to us entirely. Neither relationship, nor friendship, nor the most
• 4:37:19
  Speaker 5: intimate connection is sufficient to affect this. To give one's
• 4:37:23
  Speaker 5: whole confidence is quite different from giving one's regard. The
• 4:37:28
  Speaker 5: closest intimacy has its exceptions, without which the laws of
• 4:37:31
  Speaker 5: friendship would be broken. The friend always keeps one secret
• 4:37:35
  Speaker 5: to himself, and even the son always hides something from
• 4:37:39
  Speaker 5: his father. Some things are kept from one that are
• 4:37:43
  Speaker 5: revealed to another, and vice versa. In this way, one
• 4:37:47
  Speaker 5: reveals all and conceals all by making a distinction among
• 4:37:51
  Speaker 5: the persons with whom we are connected. End of Section
• 4:37:57
  Speaker 5: twenty eight.
• 4:37:59
  Speaker 4: Do not follow up of folly. Many make an obligation
• 4:38:02
  Speaker 4: out of a blunder, and, because they have entered the
• 4:38:05
  Speaker 4: wrong path, think it proves their strength of character to
• 4:38:08
  Speaker 4: go on in it. Within, they regret their error, while
• 4:38:11
  Speaker 4: outwardly they excuse it. At the beginning of their mistake,
• 4:38:15
  Speaker 4: they were regarded as inattentive, in the end as false.
• 4:38:19
  Speaker 4: Neither non considered promise nor a mistaken resolution are really binding.
• 4:38:24
  Speaker 4: Yet some continue in their folly and prefer to be
• 4:38:27
  Speaker 4: constant Fuals two hundred and sixty two. Be able to forget.
• 4:38:33
  Speaker 4: It is more a matter of luck than of skill.
• 4:38:36
  Speaker 4: The things we remember best are those better forgotten. Memory
• 4:38:40
  Speaker 4: is not only unruly, leaving us in the lurch when
• 4:38:43
  Speaker 4: most needed, but stupid as well, putting its nose into
• 4:38:46
  Speaker 4: places where it is not wanted. In painful things, it
• 4:38:50
  Speaker 4: is active, but neglectful in recalling the pleasurable. Very often,
• 4:38:54
  Speaker 4: the only remedy for the ale is to forget it,
• 4:38:57
  Speaker 4: and all we forget is the remedy. Never the less
• 4:39:00
  Speaker 4: one should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is
• 4:39:03
  Speaker 4: capable of making existence a paradise or an inferno. The
• 4:39:07
  Speaker 4: happy are an exception, who enjoy innocently their simple happiness
• 4:39:12
  Speaker 4: two hundred and sixty three. Many things of taste one
• 4:39:16
  Speaker 4: should not possess oneself. One enjoys them better if another's
• 4:39:21
  Speaker 4: than if one's own. The owner has the good of
• 4:39:24
  Speaker 4: them the first day, for all the rest of the
• 4:39:27
  Speaker 4: time they are for others. You take a double enjoyment
• 4:39:30
  Speaker 4: in other men's property, being without fear of spoiling it,
• 4:39:34
  Speaker 4: and with the pleasure of novelty. Everything tastes better for
• 4:39:38
  Speaker 4: having been without it. Even water from another's well tastes
• 4:39:42
  Speaker 4: like nectar. Possession not alone hinders enjoyment, it increases annoyance.
• 4:39:47
  Speaker 4: Whether you lend or keep, you gain nothing except keeping
• 4:39:51
  Speaker 4: things for or from others, and by this means gain
• 4:39:54
  Speaker 4: more enemies than friends. Two hundred and sixty four. Have
• 4:39:59
  Speaker 4: no careless days. Fate loves to play tricks and will
• 4:40:03
  Speaker 4: heap up chances to catch us unawares. Our intelligence, burdens,
• 4:40:07
  Speaker 4: and courage, even our beauty, must always be ready for trial.
• 4:40:12
  Speaker 4: For their day of careless trust will be that of
• 4:40:14
  Speaker 4: their discredit. Care always fails just when it is most wanted.
• 4:40:19
  Speaker 4: It is thoughtlessness that trips us up into destruction. Accordingly,
• 4:40:24
  Speaker 4: it is a piece of military strategy to put perfection
• 4:40:27
  Speaker 4: to its trial when unprepared. The days of parade are
• 4:40:31
  Speaker 4: known and are allowed to pass by, but the day
• 4:40:33
  Speaker 4: is chosen when least expected, so as to put valor
• 4:40:36
  Speaker 4: to the severest test. Two hundred and sixty five. Set
• 4:40:41
  Speaker 4: those under you difficult tasks. Many have proved themselves able
• 4:40:46
  Speaker 4: at once when they had to deal with a difficulty,
• 4:40:49
  Speaker 4: just as fear of drowning makes a swimmer of a man.
• 4:40:52
  Speaker 4: In this way many have discovered their own courage, knowledge,
• 4:40:56
  Speaker 4: or tact, which, but for the opportunity, would have been
• 4:40:59
  Speaker 4: forever buried beneath their want of enterprise. Dangers are the
• 4:41:04
  Speaker 4: occasions to create a name for oneself. And if a
• 4:41:07
  Speaker 4: noble mind sees honor at stake, he will do the
• 4:41:10
  Speaker 4: work of thousands. Queen Isabella the Catholic knew well this
• 4:41:14
  Speaker 4: rule of life as well as all the others, and
• 4:41:17
  Speaker 4: to a shrewd favor of this kind from her the
• 4:41:20
  Speaker 4: great Captain won his fame, and many others earn an
• 4:41:24
  Speaker 4: undying name. By this great art she made great men
• 4:41:29
  Speaker 4: two hundred and sixty six. Do not become bad from
• 4:41:33
  Speaker 4: sheer goodness, that is, by never getting into a temper.
• 4:41:38
  Speaker 4: Such men without feeling are scarcely to be considered men.
• 4:41:42
  Speaker 4: It does not always arise from laziness, but from sheer.
• 4:41:45
  Speaker 4: Inability to feel strongly on occasion is something personal. Birds
• 4:41:51
  Speaker 4: soon mock at the mockin It is a sign of
• 4:41:54
  Speaker 4: good taste. To combine bitter and sweet. All sweets is
• 4:41:58
  Speaker 4: diet for children and fools. It is very bad to
• 4:42:01
  Speaker 4: sink into such insensibility out of very goodness two hundred
• 4:42:06
  Speaker 4: and sixty seven. Silken words, sugared manners, arrows pierce the body,
• 4:42:12
  Speaker 4: insults the soul. Sweet pastry perfumes the breath. It is
• 4:42:18
  Speaker 4: a great art in life to know how to sell wind.
• 4:42:21
  Speaker 4: Most things are paid for in words, and by them
• 4:42:25
  Speaker 4: you can remove impossibilities. Thus we deal in air, and
• 4:42:29
  Speaker 4: a royal breath can produce courage and power. Always have
• 4:42:33
  Speaker 4: your mouth full of sugar to sweeten your words, so
• 4:42:37
  Speaker 4: that even your ill wishers enjoy them. To please one
• 4:42:40
  Speaker 4: must be peaceful two hundred and sixty eight. The wise
• 4:42:45
  Speaker 4: do at once what the fool does. At last, both
• 4:42:49
  Speaker 4: do the same thing. The only difference lies in the
• 4:42:52
  Speaker 4: time they do it, the one at the right time,
• 4:42:55
  Speaker 4: the other at the wrong. He catches by the foot,
• 4:42:58
  Speaker 4: but he ought to knock on the head. He turns
• 4:43:01
  Speaker 4: right into left, and in all his acts is but
• 4:43:03
  Speaker 4: a child. There is only one way to get him
• 4:43:06
  Speaker 4: in the right way, and that is to force him
• 4:43:08
  Speaker 4: to do what he might have done of his own accord.
• 4:43:12
  Speaker 4: The wise man, on the other hand, sees at once
• 4:43:14
  Speaker 4: what must be done sooner or later, so he does
• 4:43:17
  Speaker 4: it willingly and gains honor thereby. Two hundred and sixty nine.
• 4:43:22
  Speaker 4: Make use of the novelty of your position, For men
• 4:43:26
  Speaker 4: are valued while they are new. Novelty pleases all because
• 4:43:30
  Speaker 4: it is uncommon. Taste is refreshed, and a brand new
• 4:43:33
  Speaker 4: mediocrity is thought more off than accustomed excellence. Ability wears
• 4:43:39
  Speaker 4: away by use and becomes old. However, know that the
• 4:43:43
  Speaker 4: glory of novelty is short lived. After four days, respect
• 4:43:47
  Speaker 4: is gone. Accordingly, learn to utilize the first fruits of appreciation,
• 4:43:53
  Speaker 4: and seize during the rapid passage of applause all that
• 4:43:56
  Speaker 4: can be put to use. For once the heat of
• 4:43:58
  Speaker 4: novelty over, the passion calls, and the appreciation of novelty
• 4:44:03
  Speaker 4: is exchanged for satiety at the customary. Believe that all
• 4:44:07
  Speaker 4: has its season, which soon passes two hundred and seventy.
• 4:44:12
  Speaker 4: Do not condemn alone that which pleases all. There must
• 4:44:16
  Speaker 4: be something good in a thing that pleases so many,
• 4:44:19
  Speaker 4: even if it cannot be explained, It is certainly enjoyed.
• 4:44:23
  Speaker 4: Singularity is always hated, and when in the wrong leaf
• 4:44:27
  Speaker 4: that you simply destroy respect for your taste rather than
• 4:44:31
  Speaker 4: do harm to the object of your blame and are
• 4:44:33
  Speaker 4: left alone you and your bad taste. If you cannot
• 4:44:37
  Speaker 4: find the good in a thing, hide your incapacity and
• 4:44:40
  Speaker 4: do not damn it straight away. As a general rule,
• 4:44:43
  Speaker 4: bad taste springs from want of knowledge. What all say
• 4:44:48
  Speaker 4: is so or will be so end of Section twenty nine.
• 4:44:54
  Speaker 5: In every occupation, if you know little, stick to the safest.
• 4:44:58
  Speaker 5: If you are not respected as subtle, you will be
• 4:45:01
  Speaker 5: regarded as sure. On the other hand, a man well
• 4:45:05
  Speaker 5: trained can plunge in and act as he pleases, to
• 4:45:09
  Speaker 5: know little and yet seek danger. Is nothing else than
• 4:45:12
  Speaker 5: to seek ruin. In such a case, take stand on
• 4:45:15
  Speaker 5: the right hand, for what is done cannot be undone.
• 4:45:20
  Speaker 5: Let little knowledge keep to the King's highway, And in
• 4:45:23
  Speaker 5: every case knowing or unknowing, security is shrewder than singularity
• 4:45:30
  Speaker 5: two hundred and seventy two. Sell things by the tariff
• 4:45:34
  Speaker 5: of courtesy, you oblige people most that way, the bid
• 4:45:39
  Speaker 5: of an interested buyer will never equal the return gift
• 4:45:42
  Speaker 5: of an honorable recipient of a favor. Courtesy does not
• 4:45:46
  Speaker 5: really make presence, but really lays men under obligation, and
• 4:45:51
  Speaker 5: generosity is the great obligation. To a right minded man,
• 4:45:56
  Speaker 5: nothing costs more dear than what is given him. You
• 4:45:59
  Speaker 5: sell it him twice, and for two prices, one for
• 4:46:02
  Speaker 5: the value, one for the politeness. At the same time,
• 4:46:06
  Speaker 5: it is true that with vulgar souls, generosity is gibberish,
• 4:46:10
  Speaker 5: for they do not understand the language of good breeding
• 4:46:15
  Speaker 5: two hundred and seventy three. Comprehend their dispositions with whom
• 4:46:21
  Speaker 5: you deal, so as to know their intentions, cause, known effect,
• 4:46:26
  Speaker 5: known beforehand in the disposition, and after in the motive.
• 4:46:30
  Speaker 5: The melancholy man always foresees misfortunes, the backbiter scandals, having
• 4:46:36
  Speaker 5: no conception of the good evil offers itself to them.
• 4:46:40
  Speaker 5: A man moved by passion always speaks of things differently
• 4:46:44
  Speaker 5: from what they are. It is his passion speaks, not
• 4:46:47
  Speaker 5: his reason. Thus each speaks as his feeling or his
• 4:46:50
  Speaker 5: humor prompts him, and all far from the truth. Learn
• 4:46:55
  Speaker 5: how to decipher faces and spell out the soul in
• 4:46:58
  Speaker 5: the features. If a man laughs, always set him down
• 4:47:02
  Speaker 5: as foolish, if never as false. Beware of the gossip.
• 4:47:07
  Speaker 5: He is either a babbler or a spy. Expect little
• 4:47:11
  Speaker 5: good from the misshapen they generally take revenge on nature
• 4:47:14
  Speaker 5: and do little honor to her, as she has done
• 4:47:17
  Speaker 5: little to them. Beauty and folly generally go hand in
• 4:47:22
  Speaker 5: hand two hundred seventy four. Be attractive. It is the
• 4:47:28
  Speaker 5: magic of subtle courtesy. Use the magnet of your pleasant
• 4:47:32
  Speaker 5: qualities more to obtain good will than good deeds, but
• 4:47:37
  Speaker 5: apply it to all Merit is not enough unless supported
• 4:47:41
  Speaker 5: by grace, which is the sole thing that gives general
• 4:47:44
  Speaker 5: acceptance and the most practical means of rule over others.
• 4:47:49
  Speaker 5: To be in vogue as a matter of luck. Yet
• 4:47:51
  Speaker 5: it can be encouraged by skill, for art can best
• 4:47:54
  Speaker 5: take root on a soil favored by nature. There good
• 4:47:58
  Speaker 5: will grows and develops into universal favor. Two hundred seventy five.
• 4:48:06
  Speaker 5: Join in the game, as far as decency permits, Do
• 4:48:10
  Speaker 5: not always pose and be a bore. This is a
• 4:48:12
  Speaker 5: maxim for gallant bearing. You may yield a touch of
• 4:48:16
  Speaker 5: dignity to gain the general good will. You may now
• 4:48:20
  Speaker 5: and then go where most go, yet not beyond the
• 4:48:23
  Speaker 5: bounds of decorum. He who makes a fool of himself
• 4:48:27
  Speaker 5: in public will not be regarded as discreet in private life.
• 4:48:31
  Speaker 5: One may lose more on a day of pleasure than
• 4:48:34
  Speaker 5: has been gained during a whole life of labor. Still
• 4:48:38
  Speaker 5: you must not always keep away. To be singular is
• 4:48:41
  Speaker 5: to condemn all others. Still less act the prude, leave
• 4:48:46
  Speaker 5: that to its appropriate sex. Even religious prudery is ridiculous.
• 4:48:52
  Speaker 5: Nothing so becomes a man as to be a man.
• 4:48:55
  Speaker 5: A woman may affect a manly bearing as an excellence,
• 4:48:58
  Speaker 5: but not vice versa. Two hundred and seventy six. Know
• 4:49:05
  Speaker 5: how to renew your character, with the help both of
• 4:49:09
  Speaker 5: nature and of art. Every seven years the disposition changes,
• 4:49:14
  Speaker 5: they say, Let it be a change for the better
• 4:49:17
  Speaker 5: and for the nobler in your taste. After the first
• 4:49:21
  Speaker 5: seven comes reason with each succeeding luster, let a new
• 4:49:25
  Speaker 5: excellence be added. Observe this change so as to aid it,
• 4:49:29
  Speaker 5: and hope also for betterment in others. Hence, it arises
• 4:49:33
  Speaker 5: that many change their behavior when they change their position
• 4:49:36
  Speaker 5: or their occupation. At times, the change is not noticed
• 4:49:39
  Speaker 5: till it reaches the height of maturity. At twenty, man
• 4:49:44
  Speaker 5: is at peacock at thirty, a lion at forty, a
• 4:49:48
  Speaker 5: camel at fifty, a serpent at sixty, a dog at seventy,
• 4:49:54
  Speaker 5: and eight at eighty, nothing at all two hundred and
• 4:49:59
  Speaker 5: seventy seve Display yourself tis the illumination of talents. For
• 4:50:06
  Speaker 5: each there comes an appropriate moment use it, for not
• 4:50:10
  Speaker 5: every day comes a triumph. There are some dashing men
• 4:50:13
  Speaker 5: who make much show with a little. A whole exhibition
• 4:50:17
  Speaker 5: with much fability to display them is joined to versatile gifts.
• 4:50:22
  Speaker 5: They are regarded as miraculous. There are whole nations given
• 4:50:27
  Speaker 5: to display. The Spanish people take the highest rank in
• 4:50:30
  Speaker 5: this light. Was the first thing to cause creation to
• 4:50:33
  Speaker 5: shine forth. Display fills up much, supplies much, and gives
• 4:50:39
  Speaker 5: a second existence to things, especially when combined with real excellence.
• 4:50:44
  Speaker 5: Heaven that Grant's perfection provides also the means of display,
• 4:50:48
  Speaker 5: for one without the other were abortive. Skill is, however,
• 4:50:52
  Speaker 5: needed for display. Even excellence depends on circumstances and is
• 4:50:56
  Speaker 5: not always opportune. Ostentation is out of place when it
• 4:51:01
  Speaker 5: is out of time. More than any other quality, it
• 4:51:04
  Speaker 5: should be free of any affectation. This is its rock
• 4:51:08
  Speaker 5: of offense, for it then borders on vanity and so
• 4:51:11
  Speaker 5: on contempt. It must be moderate to avoid being vulgar,
• 4:51:15
  Speaker 5: and any excess is despised by the wise. At times
• 4:51:20
  Speaker 5: it consists in a sort of mute eloquence. A careless
• 4:51:23
  Speaker 5: display of excellence.
• 4:51:25
  Speaker 2: For a wise.
• 4:51:26
  Speaker 5: Concealment is often the most effective boast, since the very
• 4:51:30
  Speaker 5: withdrawal from view piques curiosity to the highest. 'tis a
• 4:51:34
  Speaker 5: fine subtlety, too, not to display one's excellence all at
• 4:51:38
  Speaker 5: one time, but to grant stolen glances at it more
• 4:51:42
  Speaker 5: and more as time goes on. Each exploit should be
• 4:51:46
  Speaker 5: the pledge of a grater, and applause at the first
• 4:51:49
  Speaker 5: should only die away in expectation of its sequel two.
• 4:51:54
  Speaker 2: Hundred seventy eight.
• 4:51:57
  Speaker 5: Avoid notoriety in all things. Even excellences become defects if
• 4:52:04
  Speaker 5: they become notorious. Notoriety arises from singularity, which is always blamed.
• 4:52:11
  Speaker 5: He that is singular is left severely alone. Even beauty
• 4:52:15
  Speaker 5: is decredited by coxcombri which offends by the very notice
• 4:52:20
  Speaker 5: it attracts. Still more, does this apply to discreditable singularities.
• 4:52:26
  Speaker 5: Yet among the wicked there are some that seek to
• 4:52:28
  Speaker 5: be known for seeking novelties in vice, so as to
• 4:52:31
  Speaker 5: attain to the fame of infamy. Even in matters of
• 4:52:35
  Speaker 5: the intellect, want of moderation may degenerate into loquacity two
• 4:52:42
  Speaker 5: hundred seventy nine. Do not contradict the contradictor you have
• 4:52:47
  Speaker 5: to distinguish whether the contradiction comes from cunning or from vulgarity.
• 4:52:52
  Speaker 5: It is not always obstinacy, but may be artfulness. Notice this,
• 4:52:57
  Speaker 5: for in the first case one may get into difficulties,
• 4:53:00
  Speaker 5: in the other into danger. Caution is never more needed
• 4:53:04
  Speaker 5: than against spies. There is no such counter check to
• 4:53:08
  Speaker 5: the picklock of the mind as to leave the key
• 4:53:11
  Speaker 5: of caution in the lock two hundred eighty be trustworthy,
• 4:53:21
  Speaker 5: Honorable dealing is at an end. Trusts are denied. Few
• 4:53:26
  Speaker 5: keep their word. The greater the service, the poorer the reward.
• 4:53:30
  Speaker 5: That is the way with all the world nowadays. There
• 4:53:33
  Speaker 5: are whole nations inclined to false dealing with some Treachery
• 4:53:38
  Speaker 5: has always to be feared with others, breach of promise
• 4:53:42
  Speaker 5: with others deceit. Yet this bad behavior of others should
• 4:53:46
  Speaker 5: rather be a warning to us than an example. The
• 4:53:50
  Speaker 5: fear is that the sight of such unworthy behavior should
• 4:53:53
  Speaker 5: override our integrity. But a man of honor should never
• 4:53:57
  Speaker 5: forget what he is because he sees what others are.
• 4:54:02
  Speaker 5: End of Section thirty. Find favor with men of sense.
• 4:54:09
  Speaker 5: The tepid yes of a remarkable man is worth more
• 4:54:13
  Speaker 5: than all the applause of the vulgar. You cannot make
• 4:54:16
  Speaker 5: a meal off the smoke of chaff. The why speak
• 4:54:20
  Speaker 5: with understanding, and their praise gives permanent satisfaction. The sage
• 4:54:25
  Speaker 5: Antigonus reduced the theater of his fame to Zeus alone,
• 4:54:29
  Speaker 5: and Plato called Aristotle his whole school. Some strive to
• 4:54:34
  Speaker 5: fill their stomach, albeit only with the breath of the mob.
• 4:54:38
  Speaker 5: Even monarchs have need of authors, and fear their pens
• 4:54:41
  Speaker 5: more than ugly women. The Painter's Pencil two hundred eighty two.
• 4:54:48
  Speaker 5: Make use of absence to make yourself more esteemed or valued.
• 4:54:53
  Speaker 5: If the accustomed presence diminishes, fame, absence augments it. One
• 4:54:58
  Speaker 5: that is regarded as alone. Lion in his absence may
• 4:55:01
  Speaker 5: be laughed at when present as the ridiculous result of
• 4:55:05
  Speaker 5: the parturition of the mountains. Talents get soiled by use,
• 4:55:10
  Speaker 5: for it is easier to see the exterior rind than
• 4:55:13
  Speaker 5: the kernel of greatness it encloses. Imagination reaches farther than sight,
• 4:55:18
  Speaker 5: and disillusion, which ordinarily comes through the ears, also goes
• 4:55:22
  Speaker 5: out through the ears. He keeps his fame that keeps
• 4:55:27
  Speaker 5: himself in the center of public opinion. Even the phoenix
• 4:55:31
  Speaker 5: uses its retirement for new adornment and turns absence into desire.
• 4:55:38
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and eighty three. Have the gift of discovery.
• 4:55:42
  Speaker 5: It is a proof of the highest genius. Yet when
• 4:55:46
  Speaker 5: was genius without a touch of madness. If discovery be
• 4:55:50
  Speaker 5: a gift of genius, choice of means is a mark
• 4:55:53
  Speaker 5: of sound sense. Discovery comes by special grace, and very seldom.
• 4:55:59
  Speaker 5: For many can fallow up a thing when found, But
• 4:56:01
  Speaker 5: to find it first is the gift of the few,
• 4:56:04
  Speaker 5: and those the first. In excellence and in age, novelty flatters,
• 4:56:09
  Speaker 5: and if successful, gives the possessor double credit. In matters
• 4:56:13
  Speaker 5: of judgment. Novelties are dangerous because leading to paradox in
• 4:56:18
  Speaker 5: matters of genius, they deserve all praise, yet both equally
• 4:56:22
  Speaker 5: deserve applause if successful two hundred and eighty four. Do
• 4:56:28
  Speaker 5: not be importunate, and so you will not be slighted.
• 4:56:32
  Speaker 2: Respect yourself.
• 4:56:33
  Speaker 5: If you would have others respect you, be sooner sparing
• 4:56:37
  Speaker 5: than lavish with your presence. You will thus become desired
• 4:56:41
  Speaker 5: and so well received. Never come unasked, and only go
• 4:56:46
  Speaker 5: when sent. For if you undertake a thing of your
• 4:56:49
  Speaker 5: own accord, you get all the blame if it fails,
• 4:56:52
  Speaker 5: none of the thanks if it succeeds. The importunate is
• 4:56:56
  Speaker 5: always the butt of blame. And because he thrusts himself
• 4:56:59
  Speaker 5: in without any shame, he is thrust out with it.
• 4:57:05
  Speaker 5: Two hundred and eighty five. Never die of another's ill luck.
• 4:57:11
  Speaker 5: Notice those who stick in the mud, and observe how
• 4:57:14
  Speaker 5: they call others to their aid so as to console
• 4:57:17
  Speaker 5: themselves with a companion. In misfortune, they seek someone to
• 4:57:21
  Speaker 5: help them to bear misfortune, And often those who turned
• 4:57:25
  Speaker 5: the cold shoulder on them in prosperity give them now
• 4:57:28
  Speaker 5: a helping hand. There is great caution needed in helping
• 4:57:33
  Speaker 5: the drowning without danger to one's self. Two hundred and
• 4:57:38
  Speaker 5: eighty six. Do not become responsible for all or for
• 4:57:43
  Speaker 5: every one. Otherwise you become a slave, and the slave
• 4:57:47
  Speaker 5: of all. Some are born more fortunate than others. They
• 4:57:50
  Speaker 5: are born to do good, as others to receive it.
• 4:57:54
  Speaker 5: Freedom is more precious than any gifts for which you
• 4:57:57
  Speaker 5: may be tempted to give it up. Less stress on
• 4:58:01
  Speaker 5: making many dependent on you than on keeping yourself independent
• 4:58:05
  Speaker 5: of any The sole advantage of power is that you
• 4:58:09
  Speaker 5: can do more good. Above all, do not regard responsibility
• 4:58:14
  Speaker 5: as a favor, for generally it is another's plan to
• 4:58:18
  Speaker 5: make one dependent on him two hundred and eighty seven.
• 4:58:24
  Speaker 5: Never act in a passion.
• 4:58:26
  Speaker 2: If you do, all is lost.
• 4:58:29
  Speaker 5: You cannot act for yourself if you are not yourself,
• 4:58:32
  Speaker 5: and passion always drives out reason. In such cases, interpose
• 4:58:37
  Speaker 5: a prudent go between, who can only be prudent if
• 4:58:40
  Speaker 5: he keeps cool. That is why lookers on see most
• 4:58:43
  Speaker 5: of the game, because they keep cool. As soon as
• 4:58:46
  Speaker 5: you notice that you are losing your temper, beat a
• 4:58:49
  Speaker 5: wise retreat, for no sooner is the blood up than
• 4:58:53
  Speaker 5: it is spilt. And in a few moments occasion may
• 4:58:56
  Speaker 5: be given for many days repentance for oneself and complaints
• 4:59:01
  Speaker 5: of the other party. Two hundred and eighty eight. Live
• 4:59:06
  Speaker 5: for the moment, Our actions and thoughts, and all must
• 4:59:10
  Speaker 5: be determined by circumstances. Will when you may for time
• 4:59:14
  Speaker 5: and tide wait for no man. Do not live by
• 4:59:18
  Speaker 5: certain fixed rules, except those that relate to the cardinal virtues,
• 4:59:22
  Speaker 5: nor let your will subscribe fixed conditions.
• 4:59:26
  Speaker 7: For you may have to.
• 4:59:27
  Speaker 5: Drink the water tomorrow which you cast away. Today, there
• 4:59:31
  Speaker 5: may be some so absurdly paradoxical that they expect all
• 4:59:35
  Speaker 5: the circumstances of an action should bend to their eccentric whims,
• 4:59:40
  Speaker 5: and not vice versa. The wise man knows that the
• 4:59:44
  Speaker 5: very pole star of prudence lies in steering by the
• 4:59:48
  Speaker 5: wind two hundred and eighty nine. Nothing depreciates a man
• 4:59:53
  Speaker 5: more than to show he is a man like other men.
• 4:59:58
  Speaker 5: The day he is seen to be very human, he
• 5:00:00
  Speaker 5: ceases to be thought divine. Frivolity is the exact opposite
• 5:00:05
  Speaker 5: of reputation. And as the reserved are held to be
• 5:00:08
  Speaker 5: more than men, so the frivolous are held to be less.
• 5:00:12
  Speaker 5: No failing causes such failure of respect, for frivolity is
• 5:00:17
  Speaker 5: the exact opposite of solid seriousness. A man of levity
• 5:00:21
  Speaker 5: cannot be a man of weight, even when he is old,
• 5:00:25
  Speaker 5: and age should oblige him to be prudent. Although this
• 5:00:29
  Speaker 5: blemish is so common, it is nonetheless despised two hundred
• 5:00:35
  Speaker 5: and ninety 'tis a piece of good fortune to combine
• 5:00:40
  Speaker 5: man's love and respect. Generally, one dare not be liked
• 5:00:45
  Speaker 5: if one would be respected. Love is more sensitive than hate.
• 5:00:50
  Speaker 5: Love and honor do not go well together, so that
• 5:00:53
  Speaker 5: one should aim neither to be much feared nor much loved.
• 5:00:58
  Speaker 5: Love introduces confidence, and the further this advances, the more
• 5:01:02
  Speaker 5: respect recedes. Prefer to be loved with respect rather than
• 5:01:07
  Speaker 5: with passion, for that is a love suitable for many.
• 5:01:12
  Speaker 5: End of Section thirty one. Know how to test the
• 5:01:19
  Speaker 5: care of the wise must guard against the snare of
• 5:01:22
  Speaker 5: the wicked. Great judgment is needed to test that of another.
• 5:01:28
  Speaker 5: It is more important to know the characteristics and properties
• 5:01:31
  Speaker 5: of persons than those of vegetables and minerals. It is
• 5:01:35
  Speaker 5: indeed one of the shrewdest things in life. You can
• 5:01:38
  Speaker 5: tell meddles by their ring, and men by their voice.
• 5:01:43
  Speaker 5: Words are proof of integrity, deeds still more. Here one
• 5:01:48
  Speaker 5: requires extraordinary care, deep observation, subtle discernment, and judicious decision
• 5:01:56
  Speaker 5: two hundred ninety two. Let your personal qualities surpass those
• 5:02:01
  Speaker 5: of your office. Let it not be the other way about.
• 5:02:05
  Speaker 5: However high the post, the person should be higher. An
• 5:02:09
  Speaker 5: extensive capacity expands and dilates more and more as his
• 5:02:14
  Speaker 5: office becomes higher. On the other hand, the narrow minded
• 5:02:19
  Speaker 5: will easily lose heart and come to grief with diminished
• 5:02:22
  Speaker 5: responsibilities and reputation. The great Augustus thought more of being
• 5:02:27
  Speaker 5: a great man than a great prince. Here a lofty
• 5:02:31
  Speaker 5: mind finds fit place, and well grounded confidence finds its
• 5:02:36
  Speaker 5: opportunity two hundred ninety three. Maturity, it is shown in
• 5:02:44
  Speaker 5: the costume, still more in the customs. Material weight is
• 5:02:48
  Speaker 5: the sign of a precious metal, moral of a precious man.
• 5:02:53
  Speaker 5: Maturity gives finish to his capacity, and arouses respect a
• 5:02:57
  Speaker 5: composed bearing in a man formed facade to his soul.
• 5:03:02
  Speaker 5: It does not consist in the insensibility of fools, as
• 5:03:06
  Speaker 5: frivolity would have it, but in a calm tone of authority.
• 5:03:10
  Speaker 5: With men of this kind, sentences are orations, and acts
• 5:03:14
  Speaker 5: our deeds. Maturity finishes a man off, for each is
• 5:03:18
  Speaker 5: so far a complete man, according as he possesses maturity.
• 5:03:24
  Speaker 5: On ceasing to be a child, a man begins to
• 5:03:27
  Speaker 5: gain seriousness and authority two hundred ninety four. Be moderate
• 5:03:34
  Speaker 5: in your views. Everyone holds views according to his interest,
• 5:03:38
  Speaker 5: and imagency has abundant grounds for them. For with most
• 5:03:42
  Speaker 5: men judgment has to give way to inclination. It may
• 5:03:46
  Speaker 5: occur that two may meet with exactly opposite views, and
• 5:03:50
  Speaker 5: yet each thinks to have reason on his side. Yet
• 5:03:53
  Speaker 5: reason is always true to itself, and never has two faces.
• 5:03:58
  Speaker 5: In such a difficulty, a prudent man will go to
• 5:04:01
  Speaker 5: work with care for his decision. Of his opponent's view
• 5:04:05
  Speaker 5: may cast doubt on his own. Place yourself in such
• 5:04:09
  Speaker 5: a case in the other man's place, and then investigate
• 5:04:12
  Speaker 5: the reasons for his opinion. You will not then condemn
• 5:04:16
  Speaker 5: him or justify yourself in such a confusing way. Two
• 5:04:22
  Speaker 5: hundred and ninety five. Do not affect which you have
• 5:04:26
  Speaker 5: not effected. Many claim exploits without the slightest claim, with
• 5:04:31
  Speaker 5: the greatest coolness. They make a mystery of all chameleons
• 5:04:35
  Speaker 5: of applause. They afford others a surfeit of laughter. Vanity
• 5:04:40
  Speaker 5: is always objectionable. Here it is despicable. These ants of
• 5:04:45
  Speaker 5: honor go crawling about, filching scraps of exploits. The greater
• 5:04:49
  Speaker 5: your exploits, the less you need to affect them. Content
• 5:04:53
  Speaker 5: yourself with doing, leave the talking to others. Give away
• 5:04:58
  Speaker 5: your deeds, but do not sell the them, and do
• 5:05:01
  Speaker 5: not hire venal pens to write down praises in the
• 5:05:04
  Speaker 5: mud to the derision of the knowing ones. Aspire rather
• 5:05:09
  Speaker 5: to be a hero than merely to appear one two
• 5:05:13
  Speaker 5: hundred ninety six Noble qualities. Noble qualities make noble men.
• 5:05:22
  Speaker 5: A single one of them is worth more than a
• 5:05:24
  Speaker 5: multitude of mediocre ones. There was once a man who
• 5:05:28
  Speaker 5: made all his belongings, even his household utensils, as great
• 5:05:32
  Speaker 5: as possible. How much more ought a great man see
• 5:05:36
  Speaker 5: that the qualities of his soul are as great as possible.
• 5:05:40
  Speaker 5: In God, all is eternal and infinite. So in a
• 5:05:44
  Speaker 5: hero everything should be great and majestic, so that all
• 5:05:47
  Speaker 5: his deeds, nay, all his words, should be pervaded by
• 5:05:51
  Speaker 5: a transcendent majesty two hundred ninety seven. Always act as
• 5:05:59
  Speaker 5: if your acts were seen. He must see all round,
• 5:06:03
  Speaker 5: who sees that men see him or will see him.
• 5:06:06
  Speaker 5: He knows that walls have ears, and that ill deeds
• 5:06:10
  Speaker 5: rebound back. Even when alone, he acts as if the
• 5:06:13
  Speaker 5: eyes of the whole world were upon him. For as
• 5:06:16
  Speaker 5: he knows that sooner or later all will be known,
• 5:06:20
  Speaker 5: so he considers those to be present as witnesses who
• 5:06:23
  Speaker 5: must afterwards hear of the deed. He that wished the
• 5:06:27
  Speaker 5: whole world might always see him, did not mind that
• 5:06:31
  Speaker 5: his neighbors could see him over their walls two hundred
• 5:06:36
  Speaker 5: ninety eight. Three things go to a prodigy. They are
• 5:06:42
  Speaker 5: the choicest gifts of Heaven's prodigality. A fertile genius, a
• 5:06:47
  Speaker 5: profound intellect, a pleasant and refined taste. To think well
• 5:06:53
  Speaker 5: is good. To think right is better. Tis the understanding
• 5:06:57
  Speaker 5: of the good. It will not do for the judge
• 5:07:00
  Speaker 5: to reside in the backbone. It would be of more
• 5:07:03
  Speaker 5: trouble than use. To think aright is the fruit of
• 5:07:07
  Speaker 5: a reasonable nature. At twenty, the will rules at thirty,
• 5:07:13
  Speaker 5: the intellect at forty the judgment. There are minds that
• 5:07:17
  Speaker 5: shine in the dark, like the eyes of the lynx,
• 5:07:20
  Speaker 5: and are most clear where there is most darkness. Others
• 5:07:24
  Speaker 5: are more adapted for the occasion. They always hit on
• 5:07:27
  Speaker 5: that which suits the emergency. Such a quality produces much
• 5:07:31
  Speaker 5: and good, a sort of feckoned felicity. In the meantime,
• 5:07:36
  Speaker 5: good taste seasons the whole of life two hundred ninety nine.
• 5:07:43
  Speaker 5: Leave off hungry one ought to remove even the bowl
• 5:07:48
  Speaker 5: of nectar from the lips. Demand is the measure of value,
• 5:07:53
  Speaker 5: even with regard to bodily thirst. It is a mark
• 5:07:56
  Speaker 5: of good taste to slake, but not to quench it little,
• 5:08:00
  Speaker 5: and good is twice good. The second time comes a
• 5:08:04
  Speaker 5: great falling off. Surfeit of pleasure was ever dangerous and
• 5:08:09
  Speaker 5: brings down the ill will of the highest powers. The
• 5:08:13
  Speaker 5: only way to please is to revive the appetite by
• 5:08:16
  Speaker 5: the hunger that is left. If you must excite desire,
• 5:08:20
  Speaker 5: better do it by the impatience of want than by
• 5:08:24
  Speaker 5: the repletion of enjoyment. Happiness earned gives double joy three
• 5:08:32
  Speaker 5: hundred In one word, be a saint, so it is
• 5:08:38
  Speaker 5: all said at once. Virtue is the link of all perfections,
• 5:08:44
  Speaker 5: the center of all the felicities. She it is that
• 5:08:48
  Speaker 5: makes a man prudent, discreet, sagacious, cautious, wise, courageous, thoughtful, trustworthy, happy, honored, truthful,
• 5:09:00
  Speaker 5: and a universal hero. Three hs make a man happy, health, holiness,
• 5:09:06
  Speaker 5: and a head piece. Virtue is the son of the
• 5:09:10
  Speaker 5: microcosm and has for hemisphere a good conscience. She is
• 5:09:15
  Speaker 5: so beautiful that she finds favor with both God and man.
• 5:09:19
  Speaker 5: Nothing is lovable but virtue, nothing detestable but vice. Virtue
• 5:09:25
  Speaker 5: alone is serious. All else is but just. A man's
• 5:09:29
  Speaker 5: capacity and greatness are to be measured by his virtue
• 5:09:34
  Speaker 5: and not by his fortune. She alone is all sufficient.
• 5:09:39
  Speaker 5: She makes men lovable in life, memorable after death. End
• 5:09:47
  Speaker 5: of Section thirty two