Baltasar Gracián (#15-17): Hire smarter people than you. Good intentions. To win, keep changing.
Read all my Baltasar Gracián posts. Comments?
Shambhala version:
15. Keep auxiliary wits around you. It is a privilege of the powerful to surround themselves with the champions of intellect who protect them from the dangers of every ignorance, who untangle them from the snarls of every difficulty. It is a rare greatness to know how to make use of the wise; it far exceeds the barbarous taste of Tigranes, who delighted in enslaving kings as his servants. It is a novel kind of supremacy - the best that life can offer - to use skill to make as servants of those who by nature are our masters. It is a great thing to know, little to live; there is no real life without knowledge. There is remarkable cleverness in studying without effort, in getting much by means of many, and through them all to become wise. Afterwards, you speak in the council of chambers on behalf of many, and since as many sages speak through your mouth as were consulted beforehand you thus obtain the fame of an oracle by others' efforts. Such auxiliary wits distil the best books and serve up the quintessence of wisdom. He that cannot have sages for service should have them as his friends.
16. Knowledge and good intentions. Together they ensure continued success. A fine intellect wedded to a wicked will is always an unnatural monster. A wicked will poisons all perfections; helped by knowledge it only ruins with greater subtlety. It is a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge without sense is doubly folly.
17. Vary your mode of action. So as to distract attention, do not always do things the same way, especially if you have a rival. Do not always act on first impulse; people will soon recognize the uniformity and, by anticipating, frustrate your designs. It is easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies straight, not so one that twists and turns. Nor should you always act on second thoughts; people will discern the plan the second time. The enemy is on the watch, great skill is required to outwit him. The gamester never plays the card the opponent expects, still less the one he wants.
Christopher Maurer version:
015. Surround yourself with auxiliary wits.
Things turn out well for the powerful when they are surrounded by people of great understanding who can get them out of the tight situations where their ignorance has placed them, and take their place in battling difficulty. It is singular greatness to use wise people : better than the barbaric taste of Tigranes, who wanted to enslave the kings he conquered. This is a new way of mastering others, in what matters most in life : skillfully make servants of those whom nature made superior. We have little to live and much to know, and you cannot live if you do not know. It takes uncommon skill to study and learn without effort : to study much through many, and know more than all of them together. Do this and you will go to a gathering and speak for many. You will speak for as many sages as counseled you, and will win fame as an oracle thanks to the sweat of others. Choose a subject, and let those around you serve up quintessential knowledge. If you can't make knowledge your servant, make it your friend.
016. Knowledge and honorable intentions.
Knowledge and honorable intentions ensure that your success will bear fruit. When understanding marries bad intention, it isn't wedlock but monstrous rape. Malevolence poisons perfection. when abetted by knowledge, it corrupts even more subtly. Superior talents given to baseness come to a bad end. Knowledge without judgment is double madness.
017. Keep changing your style of doing things.
Vary your methods. This will confuse people, especially your rivals, and awaken their curiosity and attention. If you always act on your first intention, others will foresee it and thwart it. It is easy to kill the bird that flies in a straight line, but not one that changes its line of flight. Don't always act on your second intention either; do something twice, and others will discover the ruse. Malice is ready to pounce on you; you need a good deal of subtlety to outwit it. The consummate player never moves the piece his opponent expects him to, and, less still, the piece he wants him to move.
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:
15. Keep auxiliary wits around you. It is a privilege of the powerful to surround themselves with the champions of intellect who protect them from the dangers of every ignorance, who untangle them from the snarls of every difficulty. It is a rare greatness to know how to make use of the wise; it far exceeds the barbarous taste of Tigranes, who delighted in enslaving kings as his servants. It is a novel kind of supremacy - the best that life can offer - to use skill to make as servants of those who by nature are our masters. It is a great thing to know, little to live; there is no real life without knowledge. There is remarkable cleverness in studying without effort, in getting much by means of many, and through them all to become wise. Afterwards, you speak in the council of chambers on behalf of many, and since as many sages speak through your mouth as were consulted beforehand you thus obtain the fame of an oracle by others' efforts. Such auxiliary wits distil the best books and serve up the quintessence of wisdom. He that cannot have sages for service should have them as his friends.
16. Knowledge and good intentions. Together they ensure continued success. A fine intellect wedded to a wicked will is always an unnatural monster. A wicked will poisons all perfections; helped by knowledge it only ruins with greater subtlety. It is a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge without sense is doubly folly.
17. Vary your mode of action. So as to distract attention, do not always do things the same way, especially if you have a rival. Do not always act on first impulse; people will soon recognize the uniformity and, by anticipating, frustrate your designs. It is easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies straight, not so one that twists and turns. Nor should you always act on second thoughts; people will discern the plan the second time. The enemy is on the watch, great skill is required to outwit him. The gamester never plays the card the opponent expects, still less the one he wants.
Christopher Maurer version:
015. Surround yourself with auxiliary wits.
Things turn out well for the powerful when they are surrounded by people of great understanding who can get them out of the tight situations where their ignorance has placed them, and take their place in battling difficulty. It is singular greatness to use wise people : better than the barbaric taste of Tigranes, who wanted to enslave the kings he conquered. This is a new way of mastering others, in what matters most in life : skillfully make servants of those whom nature made superior. We have little to live and much to know, and you cannot live if you do not know. It takes uncommon skill to study and learn without effort : to study much through many, and know more than all of them together. Do this and you will go to a gathering and speak for many. You will speak for as many sages as counseled you, and will win fame as an oracle thanks to the sweat of others. Choose a subject, and let those around you serve up quintessential knowledge. If you can't make knowledge your servant, make it your friend.
016. Knowledge and honorable intentions.
Knowledge and honorable intentions ensure that your success will bear fruit. When understanding marries bad intention, it isn't wedlock but monstrous rape. Malevolence poisons perfection. when abetted by knowledge, it corrupts even more subtly. Superior talents given to baseness come to a bad end. Knowledge without judgment is double madness.
017. Keep changing your style of doing things.
Vary your methods. This will confuse people, especially your rivals, and awaken their curiosity and attention. If you always act on your first intention, others will foresee it and thwart it. It is easy to kill the bird that flies in a straight line, but not one that changes its line of flight. Don't always act on your second intention either; do something twice, and others will discover the ruse. Malice is ready to pounce on you; you need a good deal of subtlety to outwit it. The consummate player never moves the piece his opponent expects him to, and, less still, the piece he wants him to move.
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).