Latest / Logic Library / 15 - Do Not Make a Business of What is No Business - The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian
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- Do not make a business of what is no business. As some make gossip out of everything, so others business. They always talk big, take everything in earnest, and turn it into a dispute or secret. Troublesome things must not be taken too seriously, if they can be avoided. It is preposterous to take to heart that which you should throw over your shoulders. Much that would be something has become nothing by being left alone, and what was nothing has become of consequence by being made much of. At the outset, things can be easily settled, but not afterwards. Often the remedy causes the disease tis by no means the least of life's rules to let things alone one hundred twenty two. Distinction in speech and action. By this you gain a position in many places, and carry esteem beforehand. It shows itself in everything, in talk, in look, even in gait. It is a great victory to conquer men's hearts. It does not arise from any foolish presumption or pompous talk, but in a becoming tone of authority, born of superior talent combined with true merit one hundred twenty three avoid affectation. The more merit the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavor to all. It is wearisome to others and troublesome to the one affected, for he becomes a martyr to care and tortures himself with attention. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud and artificial instead of being the product of nature. And the natural is always more pleasing than the artificial. One always feels sure that the man who affects a virtue has it not. The more pains you take with a thing, the more should you conceal them, so that it may appear to arise spontaneously from your own natural character. Do not, however, in avoiding affectation, fall into it by affecting to be unaffected. The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others attention to them. He is twice great, who has all the perfections in the opinions of all, except of himself. He attains applause by two opposite paths one hundred twenty four. Get yourself missed. Few reach such favor with the many, if with the wise, 'tis the height of happiness when one has finished one's work. Coldness is the general rule. But there are ways of earning this reward of good will. The sure way is to excel in your office and talents. Add to this agreeable manner, and you reach the point where you become necessary to your office, not your office to you. Some do honor to their post with others. Tis the other way. It is no great gain if a poor successor makes the predecessor seem good, for this does not imply that the one is missed, but that the other is wished away one hundred and twenty five. Do not be a blacklist. It is a sign of having a tarnished name to concern oneself with the ill fame of others. Some wish to hide their own stains with those of others, or at least wash them away, Or they seek consolation. Therein tis the consolation of fools. They must have bad breath, who form the sewers of scandal for the whole town. The more one grubs about in such matters, the more one befouls oneself. There are few without stain somewhere or other. But it is of little known people that the failings are little be careful, then, to avoid being a registrar of faults, that is, to be an abominable thing a man that lives without a heart. One hundred and twenty six. Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it. When committed, you should keep your desires sealed up. Still more, your defects all go wrong sometimes, but the wise try to hide the errors, but fools boast of them. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is done. If a man does not live chastely, he must live cautiously. The errors of great men are like the eclipses of the greater lights. Even in friendship, it is rare to expose one's failings to one's friend. Nay, one should conceal them from one's self if one can. But here one can help with that other their great rule of life, learn to forget one hundred and twenty seven. Grace in everything tis the life of talents, the breath of speech, the soul of action, and the ornament of ornament. Perfections are the adornment of our nature. But this is the adornment of perfection itself. It shows itself even in the thoughts. Tis most a gift of nature and owes least to education. It even triumphs over training. It is more than ease, approaches the free and easy, gets over embarrassment, and adds the finishing touch to perfection. Without it, beauty is lifeless, graciousness ungraceful. It surpasses valor, discretion, prudence, even majesty. Itself tis a short way to dispatch and an easy escape from embarrassment one hundred and twenty eight. High mindedness one of the principal qualifications for a gentleman, for it spurs on to all kinds of nobility. It improves the taste, ennobles the heart, elevates the mind, refines the feelings, and intensifies dignity. It raises him in whom it is found, and at times remedies the bad turns of fortune, which only raises by striking. It can find full scope in the will when it cannot be exercised in act. Magnanimity, generosity, and all heroic qualities recognize in it their source one hundred twenty nine. Never complain. To complain always brings discredit. Better be a model of self reliance opposed to the passion of others than an object of their compassion, for it opens the way for the hearer to what we are complaining of, and to disclose one insult forms an excuse use for another. By complaining of past offenses, we give occasion for future ones, and in seeking aid or counsel, we only obtain indifference or contempt. It is much more politic to praise one man's favors so that others may feel obliged to follow suit. To recount the favors we owe the absent is to demand similar ones from the present, and thus we sell our credit with the one to the other. The shrewd will therefore never publish to the world his failures or his defects, but only those marks of consideration which serve to keep friendship alive an enmity silent. One hundred and thirty do and be seen doing. Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem to be of use. And to know how to show yourself of use is to be twice as useful. What is not seen is as if it was not. Even. The right does not receive proper consideration if it does not seem right. The observant are far fewer in number than those who are deceived by appearances. Deceit rules the roast, and things are judged by their jackets, and many things are other than they seem. A good exterior is the best recommendation of the inner perfection. End of Section fifteen.