History Creator / BaltasarGracian

-->''"Half of the world makes fun of the other half, and folly guides them all."''

Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658) was a Spanish Jesuit, thinker, and writer of the 17th century. Although not as well remembered as some of his more colourful colleagues of the Spanish Golden Age, he is regarded as one of the premier moral philosophers of the Baroque and a predecessor to UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}}, upheld by the French writers of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment and celebrated by Arthur Schopenhauer and UsefulNotes/FriedrichNietzsche in later times. His guidebooks about life and society, whose pragmatical contents may brand him as a sort of [[Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli Machiavelli]] for the middle class, remain somewhat popular in modern self-help and personal development circles.

Gracián's philosophy is that of a DeterminedDefeatist, being pessimistic about the evils of the world and always ready to remind you all the various ways life sucks, yet also hopeful that we can learn to navigate its waters and counter evil through knowledge and judicious thought. His style resembles that of his colleague Creator/FranciscoDeQuevedo in his usage of words and concepts, but also in their rememorance of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, with the also Hispanic Creator/{{Seneca}} being a strong influence on him. He especially shines as a technical writer due to his incredibly flowery, even openly cryptic style, which can make it a really slow and reflective read if you are reading him in original Spanish.

* TheAce: In all of his works, he advises to be, or at least work hard to be, proficient in everything. In case of failure, he warns it is preferible to suffer from CripplingOverspecialization than from being a MasterOfNone, as in the former case you at least have one really effective asset to rely on while in the latter you have nothing.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: His ''Art of Wisdom'' assumes a reader who is fundamentally self-interested and more than a bit willing to use other people, but he states people without this knowledge tend to be much worse, and therefore this is the only way a good person will thrive and hopefully bring good to others.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Reading Gracián in the original Early Modern Spanish can be a pain not only due to his choice of complicating his discourse, but also because words have varied their meaning and usage over the centuries -- you are effectively reading wordplay with words you might not get anyway. For this reason, translations tend to make deliberate licenses to render it more understandable for their own readers.

* KnightTemplar: Gracián openly sees life as a war against the malice of others and spouses one should necessarily be a GuileHero, and in the process he formularles guidelines that are often underhanded, manipulative and outright amoral. He was a Jesuit after all.
* ManipulativeBastard: Some of his aphorisms either tiptoe the line of dark psychology or cross it directly into unbridled Machiavellianism (although always with a collected, grandfatherly tone that make them sound like simple wisdom). For one, he openly states it's convenient to let people be dependant on you even although you could completely fix their needs if you wanted, as by that way you retain their service indefinitely instead of enabling them to abandon you as soon as they don't need you anymore. He does say you shouldn't actively undermine them in an unrepairable way to achieve their dependence, although perhaps only because that would be a way riskier course of action should they ever realize.

* PopularityPower: Cultivating a flawless reputation is vital in ''Art of Wisdom''. Again, however, he warns one must not exceed himself in order not to attract envy or any other danger of fame.

* PurpleProse: Absolutely constant, and very deliberately done, as he believed that being understood only by a few learned was preferable to lower his style so the common reader could understand him, and some of his adages are open to interpretation (this might be one of the reasons why the similarly cryptic Nietzsche loved his texts). He is, however, laconic, favoring brevity over extension.

* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Perhaps surprisingly, this is a point Gracián also makes. He states that optimism is a skill that allows one to find something good where there seems to be nothing, while pessimism only ruins everything by finding unnecessary shortcomings.

** He namedrops UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba, and in a veiled way UsefulNotes/HernanCortez, as examples of great strategists.

* StrongAndSkilled: Constantly reminds that one must train his natural talent, and that not doing it equates to have only half of one's potential.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: Gracián advises not to risk solely oneself in any dangerous enterprise, and to actively involve others so they will fight for themselves in a way you will also benefit from.

-->"Half of the world makes fun of the other half, and folly guides them all."

Gracián's philosophy is that of a DeterminedDefeatist, being pessimistic about the evils of the world and always ready to remind you all the various ways life sucks, yet also hopeful that we can learn to navigate its waters through knowledge and judicious thought. His style resembles that of a colleague Creator/FranciscoDeQuevedo in his usage of words and concepts, but also in their rememorance of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, with the also Hispanic Creator/{{Seneca}} being a strong influence on him. He especially shines as a technical writer, though, due to his incredibly flowery, even openly cryptic style, which can make it a really slow and reflective read if you are reading him in original Spanish.

* TheAce: In all of his works, he advises to be, or at least work hard to be, proficient in everything. In case of failure, he warns that it is preferible to suffer from CripplingOverspecialization than from being a MasterOfNone, as in the former you at least have one really effective asset to rely on while in the latter you have nothing.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: He was a pretty effective and entertaining preacher, but his methods were sometimes quirky, even frowned upon by his superiors. For one, he once read to his parishioners a letter from Hell.
* EnlightenedSelfInterest: His ''Art of Wisdom'' assumes a reader who is fundamentally self-interested and more than a bit willing to be deceitful, but he states people tend to be much worse, and therefore this is the only way a good person will thrive and therefore bring good to others.

** His quote about people looking stupid already appears among the aphorisms of Juan Manuel's ''Tales of Count Lucanor'', a famous Spanish medieval book of fables.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: Gracián advises not to risk solely oneself in any dangerous enterprise, and too actively involve others in a way they will fight for themselves in a way you will also benefit from.

* KnightTemplar: Gracián openly sees life as a war against the malice of others and spouses one should necessarily be a GuileHero, and in the proccess he formularles guidelines that are often underhanded, manipulative and outright amoral. He was a Jesuit after all.
* ManipulativeBastard: Some of his aphorisms either tiptoe the line of dark psychology or cross it directly into unbridled Machiavellianism (although always with a collected, grandfatherly tone that make them sound like simple wisdom). For one, he openly states it's convenient to make people dependant on you even although you could completely fix their needs if you wanted, as by that way you retain their service indefinitely instead of enabling them to abandon you as soon as they don't need you anymore.

* SacrificeBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: A big no no for him. He warns that knowing the extraordinary often leads to ignore the ordinary.

* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: He expresses a warning about this in another quote: "If you enter the house of Fortune through the door of pleasure, you will leave through the door of sorrow, and vice versa".

* ThePowerOfFriendship: Discussed. He extols friendship but also warns one should choose his friends well in both the moral and the pragmatic field, to the point he can sometimes come across as manipulative.

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658) was a Spanish Jesuit, thinker and writer of the 17th century. Although not as well remembered as some of his more colourful colleagues of the Spanish Golden Age, he is regarded as one of the premier moral philosophers of the Baroque and a predecessor to UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}}, upheld by the French writers of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment and celebrated by Arthur Schopenhauer and UsefulNotes/FriedrichNietzsche in later times. His guidebooks about life and society, whose pragmatical contents may brand him as a sort of [[Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli Machiavelli]] for the middle class, remain somewhat popular in modern self-help and personal development circles.

He was born in a decently wealthy family, being son of a physician, which allowed him to enter the Company of Jesus and study philosophy, ethics and theology. He worked most of his life as a professor, but also had the chance to enter the cultural circles of the court thanks to his job as confessor to the Viceroy of Aragon, and also participated as a military chaplain in the drowning of the Catalonian Revolt. Despite his non-combatant role, he turned out to be an improbable RousingSpeech specialist and was eventually nicknamed the "Padre of the Victory" by the rest of the troops. He started writing his literary works around this time, under the patronage of the wealthy humanist Vicencio Juan de Lastanosa.

Gracián initially published under the identity of his brother Lorenzo, but the rest of Jesuits found out about his literary career and didn't approve, as he published his books without their permission and often wrote about uncomfortable political and non-religious topics, a combination that turned him into a dangerous, uncontrollable maverick to their eyes (have in mind their order had been founded to counter UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation and regulate this exact kind of thing). He was also frowned for his personal style of preaching and for not being too harsh about the sin of lust, which has led some to speculate our good priest had also some secrets. The result is that the Company eventually kicked him out. Gracián managed to rebuild his career towards the end of the life thanks to his other connections, but died shortly after.

* ''El Comulgatorio'': the only he published under his real name, as well as his only religious work. An Eucharistic manual, essentially.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: By all accounts, he was a pretty effective and entertaining preacher, but his methods were sometimes quirky. For one, he once produced and a read his listeners a letter that had supposedly been sent from Hell itself.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Discussed. He extols friendship, but also warns one should choose his friends well in both the moral and the pragmatical field, to the point he can sometimes come across as manipulative.
* PurpleProse: Absolutely constant, and very deliberately done, as he believed that being understood only by a few learned was preferable to lower his style so the common reader could understand him, and some of his adages are open to interpretation (this might be one of the reason why the similarly cryptic Nietzsche loved his texts). He is, however, laconic, favoring brevity over extension.
* YeGoodeOldeDays: Seems to have this attitude, that with his idea that "it takes more to make one sage today than it did to make the seven of Greece".

He was born in a decently wealthy family, being son of a physician, which allowed him to enter the Company of Jesus and study philosophy, ethics and theology. He worked most of his life as a professor, but also had the chance to enter the cultural circles of the high class, and started writing his literary works at the same time. However, the rest of Jesuits didn't approve this, as he published his books without their permission and often wrote about uncomfortable political and non-religious topics, a combination that turned him into a dangerous, uncontrollable maverick to their eyes (have in mind their order had been founded to counter UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation and regulate this exact kind of thing), and eventually they defenestrated him and kicked him out of the order. He managed to rebuild his connections towards the end of the life, but died shortly after.

Gracián's philosophy is that of a DeterminedDefeatist, being savagely pessimistic about the evils of the world and always ready to remind you all the various ways life sucks, yet also hopeful that we can learn to navigate its waters through knowledge and judicious thought. His style resembles that of a colleague Creator/FranciscoDeQuevedo in his usage of words and concepts, but also in their rememorance of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, with the also Hispanic Creator/{{Seneca}} being a strong influence on him. He especially shines as a technical writer, though, with some names in academia considering him possibly the best wordsmith in the history of the Spanish language up to that point.

* ''Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia'' (translated currently as ''The Art of Worldly Wisdom''): his most popular work nowadays, and the one you might be most likely to find published along with Sun Tzu's ''[[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu The Art of War]]'' and such. It is basically a list of maxims and advice about how to act in one's life, often in highly cynical and devious ways. Schopenhauer liked it so much that he translated it to German, while Nietzsche called it the absolute best work of its kind in Europe. It was translated and published to English in the late 19th century and became a huge success across UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, with UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill himself allegedly owning a copy, and a re-edition in the United States in 1992 further turned it into a best seller.

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658) was a Spanish Jesuit, thinker and writer of the 17th century. Although not as well remembered as some of his more colourful colleagues of the Spanish Golden Age, he is regarded as one of the premier moral philosophers of the Baroque and a predecessor to UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}}, upheld by the French writers of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment and celebrated by Arthur Schopenhauer, UsefulNotes/FriedrichNietzsche and UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill in later times. His guidebooks about life and society, whose pragmatical contents may brand him as a sort of [[UsefulNotes/NicolaMachiavelli Machiavelli]] for the middle class, remain somewhat popular in modern self-help and personal development circles.

Gracián's philosophy is that of a DeterminedDefeatist, being savagely pessimistic about the evils of the world and always ready to remind you all the various ways life sucks, yet also hopeful that we can learn to navigate its waters through knowledge and judicious thought. His style resembles that of a colleague Creator/FranciscoDeQuevedo in his usage of words and concepts, but also in their rememorance of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, with the also Hispanic UsefulNotes/{{Seneca}} being a strong influence on him. He especially shines as a technical writer, though, with some names in academia considering him possibly the best wordsmith in the history of the Spanish language up to that point.

* ''Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia'' (translated currently as ''The Art of Worldly Wisdom''): his most popular work nowadays, and the one you might be most likely to find published along with Sun Tzu0s ''Literature/TheArtOfWar'' and such. It is basically a list of maxims and advice about how to act in one's life, often in highly cynical and devious ways. Schopenhauer liked it so much that he translated it to German, while Nietzsche called it the absolute best work of its kind in Europe. It was translated and published to English in the late 19th century and became a huge success across UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, with Churchill himself allegedly owning a copy, and a re-edition in the United States in 1992 further turned it into a best seller.

* ''El Criticón'' (''The Critic''): published in three parts and considered his magnum opus, as well as one of the peak works of the Spanish Golden Age. It's a long allegoric novel about human life and a GenreMashup, combining picaresque novel, Byzantine romance, philosophy and social commentary. Another of Schopenhauer's favorites.