Baltasar Castiglione Quotes

Everyone could have been pre-eminent at something, if they had been aware of their best quality. ~ Baltasar Gracian

You can cultivate taste, as you can the intellect. Full understanding whets the appetite and desire, and, later, sharpens the enjoyment of possession. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Work is the price which is paid for reputation. ~ Baltasar Gracian

One who was adored by all in prosperity is abhorred by all in adversity. ~ Baltasar Gracian

The greatest wisdom often consist in ignorance. ~ Baltasar Gracian

In Iceland, the weather is the biggest character you deal with every day. There's nothing more relevant in your life than what kind of weather it is. ~ Baltasar Kormakur

Throughout the history of Iceland, men have been lost at sea; every family in Iceland is connected to that kind of story. ~ Baltasar Kormakur

Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Not he that adorns but he that adores makes a divinity. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages. ~ Baltasar Gracian

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward
~ Baltasar Gracian

Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else. ~ Baltasar Gracian

It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Many would be wise if they did not think themselves wise. ~ Baltasar Gracian

To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Many pleasant things are better when they belong to someone else ... When things belong to others, we enjoy them twice as much, without the risk of losing them, and with the pleasure of novelty. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Tis much to gain universal admiration; more, universal love. ~ Baltasar Gracian

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Exaggeration is a branch of lying. ~ Baltasar Gracian

I want to work with directors who can tell intimate stories in a way that feels universal and with a big enough scope and depth to travel outside of Iceland. ~ Baltasar Kormakur

Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Few are the friends of a mans self, most those of his circumstances. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Say farewell to luck when winning. It is the way of the gamblers of reputation. Quite as important as a gallant advance is a well-planned retreat. Lock up your winnings when they are enough, or when great. Continuous luck is always suspect; more secure is that which changes. Though half bitter and half sweet, it is more satisfying to the taste. The more luck pyramids, the greater the danger of slip and collapse. For luck always compensates her intensity by her brevity. Fortune wearies of carrying anyone long upon her shoulders. ~ Baltasar Gracian

The worthless usually live long. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Life doesn't depend on any one opinion, any one custom, or any one century. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Wise men appreciate all men, for they see the good in each and know how hard it is to make anything good. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Real acting is about giving people an insight into a person, letting the audience in. ~ Baltasar Kormakur

The winters are too long, and there's only one airline, so it's difficult to escape when you feel frustrated or claustrophobic. The audience for our films isn't very large, so it's difficult to support an industry. But, Iceland is beautiful. Sometimes it's hard to imagine living anywhere else. ~ Baltasar Kormakur

Recognize things when they are at their best, in their season, and know how to enjoy them then. The works of nature all amount to a peak of perfection; up to it they wax, beyond it they wane. Only in matters of art have a few gone to the point where they might not be improved. It is the mark of cultivated taste to enjoy everything at its best. But all may not do this, and not all who may, know how. Even the fruits of the spirit have their moment of ripeness, and it is well to recognize this, in order to value it properly and attend to it. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Men demonstrate their courage more often in little things than in great. - BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE ~ Kate Quinn

Know or listen to those who know. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Be extraordinary in your excellence, if you like, but be ordinary in your display of it. ~ Baltasar Gracian

The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good. ~ Baltasar Gracian

The greatest skill at cards is to know when to discard; ~ Baltasar Gracian

Don't lie, but don't tell the whole truth. ~ Baltasar Gracian

He who laughs at everything is as big a fool as he who weeps at everything. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Things have their time, even eminence bows to timeliness. ~ Baltasar Gracian

The greatest fool is he who thinks he is not one and all others are. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Keep expectation alive. Keep stirring it up. Let much promise more, and great deeds herald greater. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Then the soul, freed from vice, purged by studies of true philosophy, versed in spiritual life, and practised in matters of the intellect, devoted to the contemplation of her own substance, as if awakened from deepest sleep, opens those eyes which all possess but few use, and sees in herself a ray of that light which is the true image of the angelic beauty communicated to her, and of which she then communicates a faint shadow to the body. ~ Baldassare Castiglione

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Worries die away before a man who asserts himself. ~ Baltasar Gracian