"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 play the card of contempt. It is the most politic kind of revenge. For there are many of whom we should have known nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness."
34 likes
Source: The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Book by Baltasar Gracián. Maxim 118, 1647.
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."