Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Doubleday (1991), Edition: 1, 208 pages
Description
This perennially popular book of advice on how to achieve personal and professional success is valued for its timeless insights on how to make one's way in the world. Written in the seventeenth century by a Spanish Jesuit scholar, these teachings are strikingly modern in tone and address universal concerns such as friendship, morality, managing emotions, and effective leadership. The Art of Worldly Wisdom is for anyone seeking to combine ethical behavior with worldly success. This edition of The Art of Worldly Wisdom includes an informative introduction by Willis Barnstone, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. Barnstone, a noted translator, critic, and poet, explores Gracián's background and places him within his historical and literary context.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Voracious_Reader
Gracian's The Art of Worldly of Wisdom is interesting. It definitely has some gems in it. For example, "...Virtue alone is sufficient unto itself: and it, only, makes a man worth loving life, and in death, remembering."
LibraryThing member hermit
The Jesuit scholar Balrasar Gracian wrote these aphorisms over three centuries ago. His position allowed him to be a keen observer of many in positions of power. And his writing can be used today as it was in his time in business, politics, and life in general. The author shares his wisdom on how
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to live a life with others. His writings advise the reader on many of life’s situations and on personal interactions. Whether considered a work on philosophy or behavioral science this book is one which the reader will refer too often. There is no need to read the book straight through from cover to cover but once. For in the back of this volume you will find a list of the aphorisms where you can go to the one that you feel would be appropriate to your situation and help with some valuable insight. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tullius22
In a way, I'm glad that I got some of these philosophy books, (what I mean is, that I got some of them, back whenever I got them), although some of them-- like Descartes-- I discarded almost upon opening. (I mean, I was perfectly capable of talking about Descartes 'intelligently' in school-- using
And so, here again I have another one of these 17th-century disappointments.... I mean, I hate to make historical comment, but I honestly only mean it in a sociological way, since so many people are all so much the same-- just as the later 19th century had so much, though of all the wrong things, the 17th century had either nothing, or so much, of nothing.... while the 18th was intolerable a mere 19 times out of 20, that's all, ha!
So, there's that, I suppose.
But at least we have a stupid Spaniard for all those stupid Greeks and Germans.... "We do not destroy religion by destroying superstition." ~ M.T.C. Although we can only guess what the Jesuit would think of my namesake....
{But the fact that Spanish words are vaguely like Latin words will always be a source of endless delight to all thinking people-- although what I really liked (past perfect, hon-hon-hon: I am Swedish!) was something far more obscure than Spanish, although windmill-fighter Spanish, ("It's a ceiling fan." "It's a whirling, five-armed monster!") *is* obscure, but *Catalan*, is minoritarian, and only something that a real elitist would have even *heard* of, and what's even better are those tabels, of equivalent words in Romance and Germanic languages, or better yet, one of those tables where the equivalent words descended from one Latin word, like British imperial way-stations, are maped out in, say, five to seven daughter languages, I used to really love that-- hours and hours of delight, just like cribbage, or German whist, which I've discovered (just today) that you can actually play with yourself, just in case it's easier to cobble together patience, than three friends! ^^}
Anyway. I'll try not to bore you too much.
He wants me to think that he is good for an aphorism, that he, like Nietzsche, has a mind for it, you know, that he has no need for the dross, that he has a sharp mind, and unburdened too, and perhaps with a flash of worldly intuition.... and that he is also wise like Epictetus, ever quiet, and perhaps also sharing a little joke, softly, with his misfortune, without saying hardly anything....
But he is not Nietzsche, and he is not Epictetus, and I actually don't think that he's even so wise as Hoyle. Or, perhaps you would prefer, Wolfgangus Theophilus Amadeus Mozartian. ^^
(Or Mary Bennet, who was wretchedly unhappy because she was unable to play the piano with any kind of skill.... yes, because she could not play the piano and get other people to like her that way, she was, wretchedly unhappy. But.... well, whatever. Who cares. Who cares about that. ^^)
To be honest, this is sorta how I feel about Shakespeare-- imagine what a blessing Shakespeare was to the 17th century! After all, it's not as though *they* could go see "The Magic Flute"!
.... {And anyway, I didn't find any that I liked so well as-- "What we cannot speak about, we must pass over in silence"!}
{To be honest, I was waiting for him to say, 'Vanity and pride are not the same, although the words are used interchangeably.'}
{.... "Even God does not tame with a whip, but with time." What does that mean? " 'Lie down on the couch.' 'What does that mean?'..... 'The Baltimore County School Board have decided to expel Dexter from the entire public school system.'.... 'That boy needs therapy.'.... 'This is like free therapy. New York State cares.'}
{.... I mean, the guy has a fucking cluttered way of thinking, if you ask me....}
{"One who enters the house of fortune through the gate of pleasure leaves it through the (door) of sorrow.".... "Sometimes a parrot talks.".... "Kavorka, Jerry-- the lure of the animal!"}
{"Mediocrities are not the subject of applause.... Work with good tools...." Even the king of Finland knows that a hearty breakfast is the most important meal of the day.}
{"Good to be a bit vague...." Just bullshit a bit-- it'll be fine....}
(7/10)
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Cartesian terms correctly-- but of course in my own home, I could see what a waste it all was.... as though the book itself, when opened, gave off a smell of rotten fish which someone forgot to salt or something.... "To overvalue something is a form of lying." I mean, yeah, like with that video game that I used to think was the best think ever put together by mortal man-- "Wipe this pathetic planet off the face of the galaxy....")And so, here again I have another one of these 17th-century disappointments.... I mean, I hate to make historical comment, but I honestly only mean it in a sociological way, since so many people are all so much the same-- just as the later 19th century had so much, though of all the wrong things, the 17th century had either nothing, or so much, of nothing.... while the 18th was intolerable a mere 19 times out of 20, that's all, ha!
So, there's that, I suppose.
But at least we have a stupid Spaniard for all those stupid Greeks and Germans.... "We do not destroy religion by destroying superstition." ~ M.T.C. Although we can only guess what the Jesuit would think of my namesake....
{But the fact that Spanish words are vaguely like Latin words will always be a source of endless delight to all thinking people-- although what I really liked (past perfect, hon-hon-hon: I am Swedish!) was something far more obscure than Spanish, although windmill-fighter Spanish, ("It's a ceiling fan." "It's a whirling, five-armed monster!") *is* obscure, but *Catalan*, is minoritarian, and only something that a real elitist would have even *heard* of, and what's even better are those tabels, of equivalent words in Romance and Germanic languages, or better yet, one of those tables where the equivalent words descended from one Latin word, like British imperial way-stations, are maped out in, say, five to seven daughter languages, I used to really love that-- hours and hours of delight, just like cribbage, or German whist, which I've discovered (just today) that you can actually play with yourself, just in case it's easier to cobble together patience, than three friends! ^^}
Anyway. I'll try not to bore you too much.
He wants me to think that he is good for an aphorism, that he, like Nietzsche, has a mind for it, you know, that he has no need for the dross, that he has a sharp mind, and unburdened too, and perhaps with a flash of worldly intuition.... and that he is also wise like Epictetus, ever quiet, and perhaps also sharing a little joke, softly, with his misfortune, without saying hardly anything....
But he is not Nietzsche, and he is not Epictetus, and I actually don't think that he's even so wise as Hoyle. Or, perhaps you would prefer, Wolfgangus Theophilus Amadeus Mozartian. ^^
(Or Mary Bennet, who was wretchedly unhappy because she was unable to play the piano with any kind of skill.... yes, because she could not play the piano and get other people to like her that way, she was, wretchedly unhappy. But.... well, whatever. Who cares. Who cares about that. ^^)
To be honest, this is sorta how I feel about Shakespeare-- imagine what a blessing Shakespeare was to the 17th century! After all, it's not as though *they* could go see "The Magic Flute"!
.... {And anyway, I didn't find any that I liked so well as-- "What we cannot speak about, we must pass over in silence"!}
{To be honest, I was waiting for him to say, 'Vanity and pride are not the same, although the words are used interchangeably.'}
{.... "Even God does not tame with a whip, but with time." What does that mean? " 'Lie down on the couch.' 'What does that mean?'..... 'The Baltimore County School Board have decided to expel Dexter from the entire public school system.'.... 'That boy needs therapy.'.... 'This is like free therapy. New York State cares.'}
{.... I mean, the guy has a fucking cluttered way of thinking, if you ask me....}
{"One who enters the house of fortune through the gate of pleasure leaves it through the (door) of sorrow.".... "Sometimes a parrot talks.".... "Kavorka, Jerry-- the lure of the animal!"}
{"Mediocrities are not the subject of applause.... Work with good tools...." Even the king of Finland knows that a hearty breakfast is the most important meal of the day.}
{"Good to be a bit vague...." Just bullshit a bit-- it'll be fine....}
(7/10)
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This collection of aphorisms rivals the wisdom found in Machiavelli's The Prince or Sun-Tzu's The Art of War. However this is significantly less well-known than the other two.Gracian was a Jesuit scholar who wrote down his observations of those in power. His study of statesmen and potentates
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demonstrates examples of their ethical behavior and worldly effectiveness. I found the many of the maxims useful insights into a humane way of living and achieving a flourishing life. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
Spanish
Original publication date
1647
1684 (French)
Prima ed. it. Ugo Guanda, 1986
Physical description
208 p.; 7.53 inches
ISBN
0385421311 / 9780385421317
Local notes
PKB - Aphorisms used bibliomantically by a fifteenth-century Jesuit, Baltasar Gracian 1601-1658.