Latest / The Philosophy Insights Collection / 13 - One Half of the World Laughs at the Other and Fools are they All - The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian

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13 - One Half of the World Laughs at the Other and Fools are they All - The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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  One half of the world laughs at the other and fools are they? All
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  everything is good or everything is bad according to the votes they gain, what
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  one pursues and other persecutes. He is an insufferable ass that would regulate everything
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  according to his ideas. Excellences do not depend on a single man's pleasure.
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  So many men, so many tastes, all different. There is no defect
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  which is not affected by some. Nor need we lose heart if things please
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  not some, for others will appreciate them, Nor need their applause. Turn
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  our head, for there will be surely others to condemn. The real test
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  of praise is the approbation of famous men and of experts in the matter.
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  You should aim to be independent of any one vote, of any one fashion,
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  of any one century one hundred and two. Be able to stomach big
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  slices of luck in the body of wisdom, not the least court and organ
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  is a big stomach, for great capacity implies great parts. Big bits of
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  luck do not embarrass one who can digest still bigger ones. What is a
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  surfeit for one may be hunger for another. Many are troubled, as it
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  were, with weak digestion owing to their small capacity. Being neither born nor
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  trained for great employment, their actions turn sour, and the humors that arise
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  from their undeserved honors turn their head, and they incur great risks in high
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  place, they do not find their proper place, for luck finds no proper
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  place in them. A man of talent, therefore, should know that he
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  has more room for even greater enterprises, and above all, avoid showing signs
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  of a little heart. One hundred three. Let each keep up his dignity.
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  Let each deed of a man in its degree, though he be not
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  a king, be worthy of a prince, and let his action be princely
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  within due limits, sublime in action, lofty in thought in all things,
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  like a king, at least in merit, if not in might. For
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  true kingship lies in spotless rectitude, And he need not envy greatness who can
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  serve as a model of it. Especially should those near the throne aim at
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  true superiority and prefer to share the true qualities of royalty, rather than take
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  parts in its mere ceremonies, yet without affecting its imperfections, but sharing in
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  its true dignity. One hundred and four Try your hand at office it requires
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  varied qualities, and to know which is needed taxes, attention and calls for
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  masterly discernment. Some demand courage, others tact. Those that merely require rectitude
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  are the easiest, the most difficult those requiring cleverness. For the former,
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  all that is necessary is character. For the latter, all one's attention and
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  zeal may not suffice. Tis a troublesome business To rule men still more fools
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  or blockheads. Double sense is needed with those who have none. It is
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  intolerable when an office engrosses a man with fixed hours and a settled routine.
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  Those are better that leave a man free to follow his own devices. Combining
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  variety with importance for the change refreshes the mind. The most in repute are
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  those that have least or most distant dependence on others. The worst is that
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  which worries us both here and hereafter one hundred and five. Don't be a
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  bore. The man of one business or of one topic is apt to be
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  heavy. Brevity flatters and does better business. It gains by courtesy what it
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  loses by curtness. Good thing when short are twice as good. The quintessence
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  of the matter is more effective than a whole farrago of details. It is
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  a well known truth that talkative folk rarely have much sense, whether in dealing
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  with the matter itself or its formal treatment. There are that serve more for
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  stumbling stones than centerpieces useless lumber. In every one's way, the wise avoid
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  being bores, especially to the great, who are fully occupied. It is
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  worse to disturb one of them than all the rest. Well said is soon
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  said one hundred and six. Do not parade your position to outshine Indignity is
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  more offensive than in personal attractions. To pose as a personage is to be
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  hated. Envy is surely enough. The more you seek esteem, the less
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  you obtain it, For it depends on the opinion of others. You cannot
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  take it, but must earn and receive from others. Great positions require an
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  amount of authority sufficient to make them efficient. Without it, they cannot be
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  adequately filled. Preserve therefore enough dignity to carry on the duties of the office.
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  Do not enforce respect, but try and create it. Those who insist
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  on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it, and that
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  it is too much for them. If you wish to be valued. Be
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  valued for your talents, not for anything adventitious. Even kings prefer to be
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  honored for their personal qualifications rather than for their station. One O seven.
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  Show no self satisfaction. You must neither be discontented with yourself, and that
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  were poor spirited, nor self satisfied, And that is folly. Self satisfaction
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  arises mostly from ignorance. It would be a happy ignorance, not without its
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  advantages, if it did not injure our credit. Because a man cannot achieve
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  the superlative perfections of others, he contents himself with any mediocre talent of his
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  own. Distrust is wise and even useful, either to evade mishaps or to
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  afford consolation when they come. For a misfortune cannot surprise a man who has
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  already feared it. Even Homer nods at times, and Alexander fell from his
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  lofty state and out of his illusions. Things depend on many circumstances. What
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  constitutes triumph in one set may cause a defeat in another. In the midst
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  of all, incorrigible folly remains the same with empty self satisfaction, blossoming,
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  flowering, and running all to seed. One O eight. The path to
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  greatness is along with others. Intercourse works, well, manners, and taste
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  are shared. Good sense and even talent grow insensibly. Let the sanguine man
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  then make a comrade of the lymphatic, and so with the other temperaments,
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  so that, without any forcing, the golden mean is obtained. It is
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  a great art to agree with others. The alternation of contraries beautifies and sustains
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  the world. If it can cause harmony in the physical world, still more
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  can it do so in the moral Adopt this policy in the choice of friends
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  and defendants. By joining extremes, the more effective middle way is found.
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  One O nine. Be not censorious. There are men of gloomy character who
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  regard everything as faulty, not from any evil motive, but because it is
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  their nature to They condemn all these for what they have done, those for
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  what they will do. This indicates a nature worse than cruel vile. Indeed,
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  they accuse with such exaggeration that they make out of moats beams wherewith to
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  force out the eyes. They are always taskmasters, who could turn a paradise
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  into a prison. If passion intervenes. They drive matters to the extreme.
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  A noble nature, on the contrary, always knows how to find an excuse
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  for failings, if not in the intention, at least from oversight. One
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  ten. Do not wait till you are a sinking sun tis a maxim of
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  the wise to leave things before things leave them. One should be able to
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  snatch a triumph at the end, just as the sun, even at its
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  brightest, often retires behind a cloud, so as not to be seen sinking,
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  and to leave in doubt whether he has sunk or no. Wisely withdraw
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  from the chance of mishaps, lest you have to do so from the reality.
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  Do not wait till they turn you the cold shoulder and carry you to
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  the grave, alive in feeling, but dead in esteem. Wise trainers put
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  racers to grass before they arouse derision by falling on the course. A beauty
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  should break her mirror early, lest she do so later with open eyes.
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  End of Section thirteen.