The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle

By Baltasar Gracián

Categories: Religion & Spirituality, Self-Help

Baltasar Gracián, a seventeenth-century Spanish Jesuit, wrote 300 maxims on how to live wisely and succeed in the world. Translated by Christopher Maurer, the aphorisms offer shrewd advice on reputation, friendship, self-control, timing, ambition and dealing with rivals. They range from "know how to withdraw" to "quit while fortune is smiling," and remain widely read as a guide to practical wisdom.

Recommended by 1 person

• Shane Parrish: “(4.5 Stars) With aphorisms ranging from “find everyone’s weak spot” to “quit whilst fortune is smiling, as all good gamblers do,” this engrossing classic of the Spanish Golden Age offers pragmatic, hardheaded, and coldly- calculated advice on how to thrive in a cut-throat world”