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10 - Do Not Vacillate - The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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  Do not vacillate. Let not your actions be abnormal, either from disposition or
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  affectation. An able man is always the same in his best qualities. He
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  gets the credit of trustworthiness. If he changes, he does so for good
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  reason or good consideration. In matters of conduct, change is hateful. There
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  are some who are different every day. Their intelligence varies still more their will,
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  and with this their fortune. Yesterday's white is to day's black, to
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  day's no was yesterday's yes. They always give the lie to their own credit
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  and destroy their credit with others. Seventy two. Be resolute. Bad execution
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  of your designs does less harm than irresolution in forming them. Streams do less
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  harm flowing than when damned up. There are some men so infirm of purpose
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  that they always require direction from others, and this not on account of any
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  per plaseexity, For they judge clearly, but from sheer incapacity for action.
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  It needs some skill to find out difficulties, but more to find a way
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  out of them. There are others who are never in straits. Their clear
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  judgment and determined character fit them for the highest callings. Their intelligence tells them
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  where to insert the thin end of the wedge their resolution how to drive it
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  home. They soon get through anything. As soon as they have done with
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  one sphere of action, they are ready for another. A fiance to fortune,
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  they make themselves sure of success. Seventy three utilize slips. That is
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  how smart people get out of difficulties. They extricate themselves from the most intricate
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  labyrinth by some witty application of a bright remark. They get out of a
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  serious contention by an airing nothing, or by raising a smile. Most of
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  the great leaders are well grounded in this art. When you have to re
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  it is often the polite way to talk of something else. Sometimes it proves
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  the highest understanding not to understand. Seventy four do not be unsociable. The
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  truest wild beasts live in the most populous places. To be inaccessible is the
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  fault of those who distrust themselves, whose honors change their manners. It is
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  no way of earning people's good will by being ill tempered with them. It
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  is a sight to see one of those unsociable monsters who make a point of
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  being proudly impertinent. Their dependents, who have the misfortune to be obliged to
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  speak with them, enter as if prepared for a fight with a tiger,
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  Armed with patience and with fear. To obtain their post, these persons must
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  have ingratiated themselves with everyone, But having once subtained it, they seek to
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  indemnify themselves by disobliging all. It is a condition of their position that they
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  should be accessible to all. Yet from pride or speed they are so to
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  none. Tis a civil way to punish such men by letting them alone and
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  depriving them of opportunities of improvement, by granting them no opportunity of intercourse Seventy
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  five. Choose an heroic ideal, but rather to emulate than to imitate.
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  There are exemplars of greatness, living texts of honor. Let every one have
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  before his mind the chief of his calling, not so much to follow him
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  as to spur himself on. Alexander wept not on account of Achilles dead and
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  buried, but over himself, because his fame had not yet spread throughout the
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  world. Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet clang of
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  another's fame. The same thing that sharpens envy nourishes a generous spirit Seventy six.
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  Do not always be jesting. Wisdom is shown in serious matters, and
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  is more appreciated than mere wit. He that is always ready for jests is
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  never ready for serious things. They resemble liars, and that men never believe
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  either, always expecting a lie in one a joke in the other. One
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  never knows when you speak with judgment, which is the same as if you
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  had none. A continual jest soon loses all zest. Many get the rapture
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  of being witty, but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has
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  its little hour. Seriousness should have all the rest. Seventy seven be all
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  things to all men. A discreet proteus learned with the learned, saintly with
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  the sainted. It is the great art to gain everyone's suffrages their good will,
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  gains general agreement. Notice men's moods, and adapt yourself to each,
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  genial or serious, as the case may be, follow their lead, glossing
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  over the changes as cunningly as possible. This is an indispensable art for dependent
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  persons. But this savoir faire calls for great cleverness. He only will find
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  no difficulty who has a universal genius in his knowledge and universal ingenuity in his
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  wit. Seventy eight the art of undertaking things Fools rush in through the door,
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  For folly is always bold. The same simplicity which robs them of all
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  attention to precautions, deprives them of all sense of shame at failure. But
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  prudence enters with more deliberation. Its forerunners are caution and care. They advance
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  and discover whether you can also advance without danger. Every rush forward is freed
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  from danger by caution, while fortune sometimes helps in such cases, step cautiously
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  where you suspect depth. Sagacity goes cautiously forward, while precaution covers the ground.
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  Nowadays there are unsuspected depths in human intercourse. You must therefore cast the
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  lead at every step seventy nine. A genial disposition, if with moderation,
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  is an accomplishment, not a defect. A grain of gaiety seasons all the
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  greatest men join in the fun at times, and it makes them liked by
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  all. But they should always, on such occasions preserve their dignity, nor
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  go beyond the bounds of decorum. Others again, get themselves out of difficulty
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  quickest by a joke, For there are things you must take in fun,
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  though others perhaps mean them In earnest you show a sense of placability, which
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  acts as a magnet on all hearts. Eighty take care to get information.
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  We live by information, not by sight. We exist by faith in others.
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  The ear is the area gate of truth, but the front door of
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  lies. The truth is generally seen, rarely heard. Seldom she comes an
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  elemental purity, especially from afar. There is always some admixture of the moods
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  of those through whom she has passed, the passions tinge her with their colors
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  wherever they touch her, sometimes favorably, sometimes the reverse. She always brings
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  out the disposition. Therefore, receive her with caution from him that praises,
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  with more caution from him that blames. Pay attention to the intention of the
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  speaker. You should know beforehand on what footing he comes. Let reflection a
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  say, falsity and exaggeration. End of Section ten.