"Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers."
"Know how to keep anticipation alive: always strive to feed it, by letting the much promise more, and the one achievement be the announcement only of a greater. Put not all your reserves into the first throw; the great trick is to dole out strength, and to dole out mind, in such a fashion as to bring forward increasingly the fulfillment of what was expected of you."
13 likes
Source: Baltasar Gracian, Baltasar Gracián y Morales (2004). “The Art of Worldly Wisdom”, p.12, Shambhala Publications
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Baltasar Gracian
"Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way."
"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one."
"Do not commit yourself to anybody or anything, for that is to be a slave, a slave to every man Above all, keep yourself free of commitments and obligations - they are the device of another to get you into his power"
"It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards."
"He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything."