It would be just to describe as wretched those who are dulled by excessive good fortune, who remain at rest, as it were, in dead calm upon an untroubled sea: whatever happens to them will.come as a change.
Seneca, ‘On Providence’
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Good fortune comes to common men and even to those of inferior talent; but only a great man is able to triumph over the disasters and terrors afflicting mortal life.
Seneca, ‘On Providence’
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Prosperity that is undiminished cannot withstand a single blow; but the man who has struggled constantly against his own ills becomes hardened by suffering and no misfortune makes him yield, indeed, if he falls, he still fights on his knees.
Seneca, ‘On Providence’
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Look beneath the surface. Things are usually very different from how they initially appeared, and ignorance, which didn’t look beneath the surface, turns to disillusion when it penetrates the interior. Falsehood always arrives first; it drags along fools with their endless vulgarity. Truth always arrives last, and late, limping along with Time. Mother Nature wisely gave us two ears, and the sensible always have one listening out for truth. Deceit is very superficial, and the superficial soon encounter it. Insight retires into itself so as to be more esteemed by the wise and the discreet.
Baltasar Gracián
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Don’t expose your sore finger, or everything will knock against it. Don’t complain about your sore points, for malice always attacks where our weaknesses hurt most. Getting annoyed will only serve to spur on someone else’s enjoyment. The ill-intentioned are searching for a pretext to get your back up. Their dart-like insinuations aim to discover where you hurt, and they’ll try a thousand different ways until they hit upon your most sensitive point. The circumspect pretend not to notice and never reveal their troubles, whether their own or their family’s, for even fortune occasionally like to hit where it hurts most, and always cuts to the quick. You should therefore never reveal what causes you pain or pleasure, so that the former may quickly end and the latter long continue.
Baltasar Gracián
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Perfect behaviour is born of complete indifference.
Cesare Pavese
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The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.
Solomon Inn Gabirol
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Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.
George Bernard Shaw
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Talk as if you were making your will: the fewer words the less litigation.
Baltasar Gracián
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