Baltasar Gracián (#9-14): Fortune/fame. Befriend teachers. Nature/art. Cunning. Fine manners.
Read all my Baltasar Gracián posts. Comments?
Shambhala version:
9. Avoid the faults of your nation. Water shares the good or bad qualities of the channels through which it flows and people share those of the climate in which they are born. Some owe more than others to their native land, because there is a more favorable sky in the zenith. There is not a nation among even the most civilized that has not some fault peculiar to itself that other nations blame by way of boast or as a warning. It is a triumph of cleverness to correct in oneself such failings, or even to hide them. You get great credit for being unique among your fellows because what is less expected is esteemed all the more. There are also family failings as well as faults of position, of office, or of age. If these all meet in one person and are not carefully guarded against, they make an intolerable monster.
10. Fortune and Fame. Where the one is fickle the other is enduring. The first is for this life, this second for the next; fortune against envy, fame against oblivion. Fortune is desired and sometimes nurtured, but fame is earned. The desire for fame springs from virtue. Fame was and is the sister of the giants; it always goes to extremes - either horrible monsters or brilliant prodigies.
11. Cultivate relationships with those who can teach you. Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge, and let culture be taught through conversation. Thus you make your friends your teachers and mingle the pleasures of conversation with the advantages of instruction. Sensible people enjoy alternating pleasures: you are rewarded with applause for what you say and you gain instruction from what you hear. We are always attracted to others by our own interest, but in this case it is of a higher kind. Wise people frequent the houses of great nobility as theaters of heroism, not temples of vanity. They are renowned for their worldly wisdom, not only for being oracles of all nobleness by their example and their behavior, but because those who surround them form a courtly academy of worldly wisdom of the best and noblest kind.
12. Nature and art, material and workmanship. There is no beauty unadorned and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by artifice. This remedies the bad and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever give us the very best - for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the best of natural dispositions remains uncultured, lacking half its excellence if training is absent. Everyone has something unrefined that needs training, and every kind of excellence needs some polish.
13. Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse. Life is a warfare against the malice of others. Sagacity fights with strategic changes of intention - never doing what it threatens, aiming only to escape notice. It aims in the air with dexterity and strikes home in an unexpected direction, always seeking to conceal its game. It lets a purpose appear in order to attract the opponent's attention, but then turns round and conquers by the unexpected. But a penetrating intelligence anticipates this by watchfulness and lurks in ambush. It always understands the opposite of what the opponent wishes it to understand, and recognizes every feint of guile. It lets the first impulse pass by and waits for the second, or even the third. Sagacity now rises to higher flights on seeing its artifice foreseen: It tries to deceive by truth itself, changing its game in order to change its deceit, cheats by not cheating, and bases its deception on the greatest candor. But the opposing intelligence is on guard with increased watchfulness and discovers the darkness concealed by the light and deciphers every move, the more subtle because more simple. In this way the guile of the Python combats the far darting rays of Apollo.
14. The thing itself and the way it is done. Substance is not enough, attention to circumstance is also required. A bad manner spoils everything - even reason and justice - a good one supplies everything, gilds, even sweetens truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself. The how plays a large part in affairs, a good manners steal people's hearts. Fine behavior is a joy in life, and a pleasant expression can help you out of a difficult situation in a remarkable way.
Christopher Maurer version:
009. Avoid the defects of your country.
Water shares the good and bad qualities of the beds through which it runs; people share those of the region where they are born. Some owe more than others to their mother country or city, for they were born under favorable skies. No country, not even the most refined, has ever escaped some innate defect or other, and these weaknesses are seized on by neighboring countries as defense or consolation. It is a triumph to correct, or at least dissimulate, such national faults. By doing so, you will be revered as unique among your people; for what is least expected is most valued. Other defects are caused by one's lineage, condition, occupation, and by the times. If all these defects come together in one person, and no care is taken to foresee and correct them, they produce an intolerable monster.
010. Fame and fortune.
One is inconstant, the other firm. The latter helps us live, the former helps us later. Fortune against envy, fame against oblivion. You can wish for fortune, and sometimes nurture it with your efforts, but all fame requires constant work. A desire for renown is born from strength and vigor. Fame is -- has always been -- the sister of giants. It always goes to extremes : monsters or prodigies, abomination or applause.
011. Associate with those you can learn from.
Let friendly relations be a school of erudition, and conversation, refined teaching. Make your friends your teachers and blend the usefulness of learning with the pleasure of conversation. Enjoy the company of people of understanding. What you say will be rewarded with applause; what you hear, with learning. What draws us to others, ordinarily, is our own interest, and here that interest is ennobled. The prudent frequent the homes of courtly heroes: theaters of heroism, not palaces of vanity. Some are renowned for their learning and good judgment: oracles of all greatness through example and friendship. Those who accompany them form a courtly academy of gallant discretion and wisdom.
012. Nature and art, material and labor.
All beauty requires help. Perfection turns into barbarism unless ennobled by artifice. Artifice rescues the bad and perfects the good. Nature often lets us down when we most need her; let us turn to art. The best disposition is unrefined without her, and perfection is only half itself without culture. People seem rough and rude without artifice. Perfection requires polish.
013. Act on the intentions of others: their ulterior and superior motives.
Man's life on earth is a militia against malicia, or malice. Cunning arms itself with strategies of intention. It never does what it indicates. It takes aim deceptively, feints nonchalantly in the air, and delivers its blow, acting upon unforeseen reality with attentive dissimulation. To win the attention and confidence of others, it hints at its intention. But immediately it turns against that intention and conquers through surprise. The penetrating intelligence heads off cunning with close observation, ambushes it with caution, understands the opposite of what cunning wanted it to understand, and immediately identifies false intentions. Intelligence allows the first intention to pass by, and awaits the second one, and even the third. Simulation grows even greater seeing that its guile has been penetrated, and tries to deceive by telling the truth. Changing strategies, it beguiles us with its apparent lack of guile. It bases its cunning on the greatest candor. But observation comes forward, sees through all this, and discovers the shadows that are cloaked in light. It deciphers intention, which is most hidden when most simple. Thus does the cunning of Python struggle against the candor of the penetrating rays of Apollo.
014. Both reality and manner.
Substance is not "stance" enough: you must also heed circumstance. The wrong manner turns everything sour, even justice and reason. The right one makes up for everything: it turns a "no" golden, sweetens truth, and makes even old age look pretty. The "how" of things is very important, and a pleasant manner captures the affection of others. A bel portarse [fine behavior] is precious in life. Speak and act well and you will get out of any difficult situation.
All my philosophy posts on:1. Baltasar Gracián (The Art of Worldly Wisdom: Read Shambhala version or Christopher Maurer version.)
2. Epictetus (The Enchiridion and The Discourses)
3. Marcus Aurelius (The Meditations). Listen
to it read aloud.
4. Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich).
Shambhala version:
9. Avoid the faults of your nation. Water shares the good or bad qualities of the channels through which it flows and people share those of the climate in which they are born. Some owe more than others to their native land, because there is a more favorable sky in the zenith. There is not a nation among even the most civilized that has not some fault peculiar to itself that other nations blame by way of boast or as a warning. It is a triumph of cleverness to correct in oneself such failings, or even to hide them. You get great credit for being unique among your fellows because what is less expected is esteemed all the more. There are also family failings as well as faults of position, of office, or of age. If these all meet in one person and are not carefully guarded against, they make an intolerable monster.
10. Fortune and Fame. Where the one is fickle the other is enduring. The first is for this life, this second for the next; fortune against envy, fame against oblivion. Fortune is desired and sometimes nurtured, but fame is earned. The desire for fame springs from virtue. Fame was and is the sister of the giants; it always goes to extremes - either horrible monsters or brilliant prodigies.
11. Cultivate relationships with those who can teach you. Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge, and let culture be taught through conversation. Thus you make your friends your teachers and mingle the pleasures of conversation with the advantages of instruction. Sensible people enjoy alternating pleasures: you are rewarded with applause for what you say and you gain instruction from what you hear. We are always attracted to others by our own interest, but in this case it is of a higher kind. Wise people frequent the houses of great nobility as theaters of heroism, not temples of vanity. They are renowned for their worldly wisdom, not only for being oracles of all nobleness by their example and their behavior, but because those who surround them form a courtly academy of worldly wisdom of the best and noblest kind.
12. Nature and art, material and workmanship. There is no beauty unadorned and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by artifice. This remedies the bad and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever give us the very best - for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the best of natural dispositions remains uncultured, lacking half its excellence if training is absent. Everyone has something unrefined that needs training, and every kind of excellence needs some polish.
13. Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse. Life is a warfare against the malice of others. Sagacity fights with strategic changes of intention - never doing what it threatens, aiming only to escape notice. It aims in the air with dexterity and strikes home in an unexpected direction, always seeking to conceal its game. It lets a purpose appear in order to attract the opponent's attention, but then turns round and conquers by the unexpected. But a penetrating intelligence anticipates this by watchfulness and lurks in ambush. It always understands the opposite of what the opponent wishes it to understand, and recognizes every feint of guile. It lets the first impulse pass by and waits for the second, or even the third. Sagacity now rises to higher flights on seeing its artifice foreseen: It tries to deceive by truth itself, changing its game in order to change its deceit, cheats by not cheating, and bases its deception on the greatest candor. But the opposing intelligence is on guard with increased watchfulness and discovers the darkness concealed by the light and deciphers every move, the more subtle because more simple. In this way the guile of the Python combats the far darting rays of Apollo.
14. The thing itself and the way it is done. Substance is not enough, attention to circumstance is also required. A bad manner spoils everything - even reason and justice - a good one supplies everything, gilds, even sweetens truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself. The how plays a large part in affairs, a good manners steal people's hearts. Fine behavior is a joy in life, and a pleasant expression can help you out of a difficult situation in a remarkable way.
Christopher Maurer version:
009. Avoid the defects of your country.
Water shares the good and bad qualities of the beds through which it runs; people share those of the region where they are born. Some owe more than others to their mother country or city, for they were born under favorable skies. No country, not even the most refined, has ever escaped some innate defect or other, and these weaknesses are seized on by neighboring countries as defense or consolation. It is a triumph to correct, or at least dissimulate, such national faults. By doing so, you will be revered as unique among your people; for what is least expected is most valued. Other defects are caused by one's lineage, condition, occupation, and by the times. If all these defects come together in one person, and no care is taken to foresee and correct them, they produce an intolerable monster.
010. Fame and fortune.
One is inconstant, the other firm. The latter helps us live, the former helps us later. Fortune against envy, fame against oblivion. You can wish for fortune, and sometimes nurture it with your efforts, but all fame requires constant work. A desire for renown is born from strength and vigor. Fame is -- has always been -- the sister of giants. It always goes to extremes : monsters or prodigies, abomination or applause.
011. Associate with those you can learn from.
Let friendly relations be a school of erudition, and conversation, refined teaching. Make your friends your teachers and blend the usefulness of learning with the pleasure of conversation. Enjoy the company of people of understanding. What you say will be rewarded with applause; what you hear, with learning. What draws us to others, ordinarily, is our own interest, and here that interest is ennobled. The prudent frequent the homes of courtly heroes: theaters of heroism, not palaces of vanity. Some are renowned for their learning and good judgment: oracles of all greatness through example and friendship. Those who accompany them form a courtly academy of gallant discretion and wisdom.
012. Nature and art, material and labor.
All beauty requires help. Perfection turns into barbarism unless ennobled by artifice. Artifice rescues the bad and perfects the good. Nature often lets us down when we most need her; let us turn to art. The best disposition is unrefined without her, and perfection is only half itself without culture. People seem rough and rude without artifice. Perfection requires polish.
013. Act on the intentions of others: their ulterior and superior motives.
Man's life on earth is a militia against malicia, or malice. Cunning arms itself with strategies of intention. It never does what it indicates. It takes aim deceptively, feints nonchalantly in the air, and delivers its blow, acting upon unforeseen reality with attentive dissimulation. To win the attention and confidence of others, it hints at its intention. But immediately it turns against that intention and conquers through surprise. The penetrating intelligence heads off cunning with close observation, ambushes it with caution, understands the opposite of what cunning wanted it to understand, and immediately identifies false intentions. Intelligence allows the first intention to pass by, and awaits the second one, and even the third. Simulation grows even greater seeing that its guile has been penetrated, and tries to deceive by telling the truth. Changing strategies, it beguiles us with its apparent lack of guile. It bases its cunning on the greatest candor. But observation comes forward, sees through all this, and discovers the shadows that are cloaked in light. It deciphers intention, which is most hidden when most simple. Thus does the cunning of Python struggle against the candor of the penetrating rays of Apollo.
014. Both reality and manner.
Substance is not "stance" enough: you must also heed circumstance. The wrong manner turns everything sour, even justice and reason. The right one makes up for everything: it turns a "no" golden, sweetens truth, and makes even old age look pretty. The "how" of things is very important, and a pleasant manner captures the affection of others. A bel portarse [fine behavior] is precious in life. Speak and act well and you will get out of any difficult situation.
All my philosophy posts on:1. Baltasar Gracián (The Art of Worldly Wisdom: Read Shambhala version or Christopher Maurer version.)
2. Epictetus (The Enchiridion and The Discourses)
3. Marcus Aurelius (The Meditations). Listen
to it read aloud.
4. Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich).