Latest / Logic Library / 09 - To Excel In What is Excellent - The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian

Transcript

09 - To Excel In What is Excellent - The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracian · Logic Library

• 0:00
  To excel in what is excellent, a great rarity among excellences. You cannot
• 0:07
  have a great man without something pre eminent. Mediocrites never win applause. Eminence
• 0:15
  in some distinguished post distinguishes one from the vulgar mob and ranks us with the
• 0:21
  elect To be distinguished in a small post is to be great in little.
• 0:27
  The more comfort, the less glory. The highest eminence in great affairs has
• 0:33
  the royal characteristic of exciting admiration and winning good will. Sixty two. Use
• 0:41
  good instruments, some would have the subtlety of their wits proven by the meanness
• 0:47
  of their instruments. Tis a dangerous satisfaction and deserves a fatal punishment. The
• 0:54
  excellence of a minister never diminished the greatness of his lord. All the glory
• 0:59
  of excceploys reverts to the principal actor. Also all the blame. Fame only
• 1:04
  does business with principles. She does not say this had good that had bad
• 1:11
  servants. But this was a good artist, that a bad one. Let
• 1:15
  your assistance be selected and tested, therefore, for you have to trust to
• 1:21
  them for an immortality of fame. Sixty three. To be the first of
• 1:27
  the kind is an excellence, and to be eminent in it as well a
• 1:34
  double one. To have the first move is a great advantage when the players
• 1:38
  are equal. Many a man would have been a veritable phoenix if he had
• 1:44
  been the first of the sort. Those who come first are the heirs of
• 1:48
  fame. The others get only a younger brother's allowance. Whatever they do,
• 1:53
  they cannot persuade the world. They are anything more than parrots. The skill
• 1:57
  of prodigies may find a new path to eminence, but prudence accompanies them all
• 2:04
  the way. By the novelty of their enterprises, sage write their names in
• 2:07
  the Golden Book of Heroes. Some prefer to be first in things of minor
• 2:14
  import then second in greater exploits. Sixty four Avoid worry. Such prudence brings
• 2:24
  its own reward. It escapes much, and is thus the midwife of comfort
• 2:30
  and so of happiness. Neither give nor take bad news unless it can help.
• 2:37
  Some men's ears are stuffed with the sweets of flattery, others with the
• 2:40
  bitters of scandal. While some cannot live without a daily annoyance, no more
• 2:46
  than Mithradates could without poison. It is no rule of life to prepare for
• 2:52
  yourself lifelong trouble in order to give a temporary enjoyment to another. However,
• 2:57
  near and dear, you never ought to spoil your own chances to please another
• 3:01
  who advises and keeps out of the affair. And in all cases where to
• 3:07
  oblige another involves disobliging yourself. Tis a standing rule that it is better he
• 3:13
  should suffer now than you afterwards. And in Vain sixty five elevated taste,
• 3:22
  you can train it like the intellect. Full knowledge Wett's desire and increases enjoyment.
• 3:29
  You may know a noble spirit by the elevation of his taste. It
• 3:32
  must be a great thing that can satisfy a great mind. Big bites for
• 3:38
  big mouths, lofty things for lofty spirits before their judgment, the bravest tremble,
• 3:45
  the most perfect lose confidence. Things of the first importance are few.
• 3:50
  Let appreciation be rare. Taste can be imparted by intercourse. Great good luck.
• 3:57
  To associate with the highest taste, but do not affect. To be
• 4:00
  dissatisfied with everything tis the extreme of folly, and more odious if from affectation
• 4:08
  than if from quixtree. Some would have God create another world and other ideals
• 4:14
  to satisfy their fantastic imagination. Sixty six see the things end well. Some
• 4:25
  regard more the rigor of the game than the winning of it. But to
• 4:29
  the world, the discredit of the final failure does away with any recognition of
• 4:32
  the previous care. The victor need not explain. The world does not notice
• 4:39
  the details of the measures employed, but only the good or ill result.
• 4:44
  You lose nothing if you gain your end. A good end gilds everything,
• 4:49
  however unsatisfactory the means. Thus, at times it is part of the art
• 4:56
  of life to transgress the rules of the art if you can cannot end well
• 5:00
  otherwise. Sixty seven. Prefer callings and evidence. Most things depend on the
• 5:10
  satisfaction of others. Esteem is to excellence what the zephyr is to flowers,
• 5:15
  the breath of life. There are some callings which gain universal esteem, while
• 5:20
  others, more important, are without credit. The former, pursued before the
• 5:26
  eyes of all, obtain the universal favor. The others, though they are
• 5:30
  rarer and more valuable, remain obscure and unperceived, honored but not applauded.
• 5:38
  Among princes, conquerors are the most celebrated, and therefore the kings of Aragon
• 5:44
  earn such applause as warriors, conquerors, and great men. An able man
• 5:48
  will prefer callings and evidence which all men know of and utilize, and he
• 5:54
  thus becomes immortalized by universal suffrage sixty eight eight. It is better to help
• 6:01
  with intelligence than with memory, the more as the latter needs only recollection.
• 6:08
  The former vous. Many persons omit the apropos because it does not occur to
• 6:14
  them. A friend's advice on such occasions may enable them to see the advantages.
• 6:20
  Tis one of the greatest gifts of mind to be able to offer what
• 6:24
  is needed at the moment. For want of that, many things fail to
• 6:28
  be performed. Share the light of your intelligence when you have any, and
• 6:32
  ask for it when you have it. Not the first cautiously, the last
• 6:36
  anxiously, give no more than a hint. This finesse is especially needful when
• 6:44
  it touches the interest of him whose attention you awaken. You should give but
• 6:48
  a taste at first, and then pass on to more. When that is
• 6:53
  not sufficient. If he thinks of no, go in search of yes.
• 6:58
  Therein lies the cleverness. For most things are not obtained simply because they are
• 7:02
  not attempted sixty nine. He is a great man who never allows himself to
• 7:10
  be influenced by the impressions of others. Self reflection is the school of wisdom.
• 7:16
  To know one's disposition and to allow for it, even going to the
• 7:20
  other extreme, so as to find the just milieu between nature and art.
• 7:27
  Self knowledge is the beginning of self improvement. There be some whose humors are
• 7:31
  so monstrous that they are always under the influence of one or the other of
• 7:35
  them, and put them in place of their real inclinations. They are torn
• 7:41
  asunder by such disharmony and get involved in contradictory obligations. Such excesses not only
• 7:47
  destroy firmness of will, all power of judgment gets lost, desire and knowledge
• 7:54
  pulling in opposite directions. Seventy Know how to refuse one ought not to give
• 8:03
  way in everything, nor to everybody. To know how to refuse is therefore
• 8:09
  as important as to know how to consent. This is especially the case with
• 8:13
  men of position. All depends on the how some men's know is thought of
• 8:18
  more than the yes of others. For a gilded no is more satisfactory than
• 8:24
  a dry yes. There are some who always have no on their lips,
• 8:28
  whereby they make everything distasteful. No always comes first with them, and when
• 8:35
  sometimes they give way after all, it does them no good. On account
• 8:39
  of the unpleasing herald. Your refusal need not be point blank. Let the
• 8:43
  disappointment come by degrees, nor let the refusal be final. That would be
• 8:50
  to destroy dependence. Let some spice of hope remain to soften the rejection.
• 8:56
  Let politeness compensate, and fine words supply the place of deeds. Yes and
• 9:01
  no are soon said, but give much to think over. End of Section nine