Weigh matters carefully, and think hardest about those that matter most
Fools are lost by not thinking. They never conceive even the half of things, and because they do not perceive either their advantages or their...
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Know your best quality, your outstanding gift
Cultivate it and nurture all the rest. All people could have achieved eminence in something if only they had known what they excelled at. Identify...
Know when to put something aside
One of life’s great lessons lies in knowing how to refuse, and it is even more important to refuse yourself, both to business and to...
Be known for pleasing others,especially if you govern them
It helps sovereigns to win the good graces of all. Ruling others has one advantage : you can do more good than anyone else. Friends...
Know the fortunate in order to choose them, and the unfortunate in order to flee from them
Bad luck is usually brought on by stupidity, and among outcasts nothing is so contagious. Never open the door to the least of evils, for...
Don’t occupy yourself with disreputable things
even less with chimerical ones that bring more scorn than renown. Caprice has founded many sects, and the sane person should flee from all of...
Be righteous and firm
Side with reason and do this so steadily that neither vulgar passion nor tyrannical violence will make you stray from it. But where will we...
Be vulgar in nothing
Certainly not in your taste. What a wise person it was who did not want his things to please the many! The discreet never gorge...
Better to be intensive than extensive.
Perfection isn’t quantity, but quality. Very good things have always been small and rare; muchness brings discredit. Even among men, the giants are usually the...
Find each person’s “handle,” his weak point
The art of moving people’s wills involves more skill than determination. You must know how to get inside the other person. Each will has its...
Know how to take a hint
Knowing how to reason was once the art of arts. It is no longer enough. One must also be a diviner, especially in matters where...
Temper your imagination
You must sometimes rein it in and sometimes encourage it. On imagination all happiness depends : it should be governed by good sense. Sometimes it...
Don’t have a single imperfection
Few people live without some moral flaw or character defect, and they give in to it when it would be easy to cure. The prudence...
Be well informed
The discreet arm themselves with a store of courtly, tasteful learning : not vulgar gossip, but a practical knowledge of current affairs. They salt their...
The art of success
Good fortune has its rules, and to the wise not everything depends upon chance. Fortune is helped along by effort. Some people confidently approach the...
A person born in the right age
People of truly rare eminence depend on the times. Not all of them had the times they deserved, and many who did were unable to...
