“Undertake what’s easy as if it were hard, and what’s hard as if it were easy . In the first case, so that confidence doesn’ t make you careless; in the second, so that lack of confidence doesn’t make you discouraged.”

“Sharp players never move the piece their opponents are expecting, and especially not the one they want them to.”

“There’ s nothing easier than deceiving a good person. The person who never lies is more ready to believe, and one who never deceives is more trusting.”

“To maintain respect, don’t be greatly loved. You should be neither greatly feared nor greatly loved. Love leads to familiarity, and when this makes its appearance, esteem departs. Be loved with appreciation rather than affection, for such love is a mark of great people.”

“Think with the few and speak with the many”

“A gift given afterwards is due payment; the same beforehand becomes an obligation. This is a subtle way of transforming obligations, for what was for the superior an obligation to reward becomes for the recipient an obligation to repay.”

“There’ s much to know and life is short, and a life without knowledge is not a life. It’s a singular skill effortlessly to learn much from many, gaining knowledge from all.”

“Know how to leave things to one side , for if knowing how to refuse is one of life’ s great lessons, an even greater one is knowing how to say no to yourself, to important people, and in business.”

“A decision openly declared is never respected; instead, it opens the way to criticism, and if things turn out badly, you’ll be unhappy twice over.”

“The most self-sufficient person must leave a door open to friendship, from where all help will come. You need a friend of sufficient influence over you to be able to advise and admonish you freely.”

“Understand yourself : your temperament, intellect, opinions, emotions. You can’t be master of yourself if you don’t first understand yourself. There are mirrors for the face, but none for the spirit: let discreet self-reflection be yours.”

“Make people depend on you . An image is made sacred not by its creator but by its worshipper.”

“Performing a service for another works like a charm, and the best way to win friends is to do people favours.”

“They can avoid the most difficult confrontation with a smile: the courage of the greatest of the great captains was based on this. A polite tactic in refusing is to change the subject, and there’ s no greater act of caution than to conceal that you have understood.”

“Truth is normally seen and rarely heard”

“Anything popular, do yourself; anything unpopular, use others to do it .”

“A person has everything who cares nothing about what matters little. There’s no greater absurdity than taking everything seriously. Similarly, it’s stupid to take things to heart that don’t concern you, and not to take to heart those that are important.”

“Leave people hungry : nectar should only ever brush the lips. Desire is the measure of esteem. Even with physical thirst, good taste’ s trick is to stimulate it, not quench it. Hard-won happiness is twice as enjoyable.”

“Have intelligent support . The good fortune of the powerful: to be accompanied by outstanding minds that can save them from tight spots caused by their own ignorance and fight difficult battles for them.”

“A person without knowledge is a world in darkness. Judgement and strength, eyes and hands; without courage, wisdom is sterile.”

“There are others whose first word on every occasion is ‘no’; with these people, you need real skill. And with everyone, the right moment: catch them when they’re in good spirits, when their bodies or their minds are satisfied. Unless the listener’s careful attention detects the petitioner’s subtlety, then happy days are the days when favours are granted, for inner happiness streams outwards.”

“Princes like to be helped, but not surpassed. Advice should be offered as if a reminder of what they’ve forgotten, not an insight that they’ve never had.”

Baltasar Gracián(1601-1658), was a Spanish Jesuit and Baroque prose writer and philosopher.

'Better mad with the crowd than sane all alone' In these witty, Machiavellian aphorisms, unlikely Spanish priest Baltasar Gracián shows us how to exploit friends and enemies alike to thrive in a world of deception and illusion. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658). Gracián's work is available in Penguin Classics in The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence.

BALTASAR GRACIÁN