Maxims of Baltasar Gracián

I read of these in a post by Fr Z yesterday. For the full context, do go read:

Being as “cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves” without losing dignity, honor, and self-respect.

But I just want to re-post of the Gracián maxims, for they seem especially wise:

Maxims of Baltasar Gracián

• In your affairs, create suspense.
• The height of perfection.
• Don’t arouse excessive expectations from the start.
• Never exaggerate.
• Never lose your self-respect.
• Never lose your composure.
• Don’t be uneven, or inconsistent in your actions:
• Choose a heroic model, more to emulate than to imitate.
• Understand yourself:
• Don’t hang around to be a setting sun.
• Get used to the bad temperaments of those you deal with, like getting used to ugly faces.
• Never complain.
• Avoid familiarity when dealing with people.
• Know how to appreciate.
• Undertake what’s easy as if it were hard, and what’s hard as if it were easy.
• Take a joke, but don’t make someone the butt of one.
• Carry things through.
• Don’t be carried away by the last person you meet.
• Go with the flow, but not beyond decency.
• Act as though always on view.