I provide critique and commentary on the aphorisms of Balthasar Gracián’s book The Art of Worldly Wisdom — but from a modern day lens.
1. Everything is at its Acme.
Especially the art of making one's way in the world. There is more required nowadays to make a single wise man than formerly to make Seven Sages, and more is needed nowadays to deal with a single person than was required with a whole people in former times.
Gracián begins with a complaint familiar to every age: the world has become more sophisticated, and therefore more difficult to master. As our collective knowledge accumulates, so does our standards. Yesterday’s mark of distinction becomes today’s minimum qualification. The person who wishes to appear wise must contend not only with everything his predecessors knew, but with generations of refinement built upon it.
Our own modern age gives his observation new force. Information has never been more abundant, yet intellectual distinction has rarely required more specialization. The Renaissance ideal of the broadly accomplished man survives, but in diminished form. We now call him a generalist — a word that often implies range without mastery. A jack of all trades but a master of none. Entire fields have divided into disciplines, disciplines into specialties, and specialties into subjects narrow enough to occupy a lifetime. (Read a PhD thesis published this year and the need to specialize in one ultra-specific concept becomes apparent).
But Gracián is speaking about more than knowledge. Human beings themselves become harder to navigate as societies grow more sophisticated. We are increasingly conscious of persuasion, status, incentives, and manipulation — the techniques that were once used to impress an audience quickly become recognizable and lose their luster. Social intelligence therefore operates on an escalating standard: every generation inherits not only the wisdom of the past, but its deceptions. That reminds me of a quote by the the Nobel laureate Albert A. Michelson, who stated, "It seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles..."
There is nevertheless some vanity in Gracián’s claim: every age imagines itself uniquely complicated. The Seven Sages lived among political rivalry, war, and religious obligation no less real than our own. What changes is not necessarily the difficulty of wisdom, but its terrain.
A Modern Adaptation:
As knowledge accumulates and people become more discerning, distinction requires more than inheriting yesterday’s wisdom; it requires identifying what yesterday’s wisdom can no longer explain.
2. Character and Intellect.
The two poles of our capacity; one without the other is but halfway to happiness. Intellect sufficeth not, character is also needed. On the other hand, it is the fool's misfortune, to fail in obtaining the position, the employment, the neighbourhood, and the circle of friends that suit him.
The ideal approach is to consciously define the virtues you strive for, and the principles you abide by. Once you have given this enough through to where you can back it with conviction, use your remaining time to improve your intellect. Intellect will actively take you on certain paths, and when faced with a fork in the road, it is your character you fall back on that will guide you through the proper path.
Intellect determines what a person can understand. Character determines what he will do with that understanding. Intelligence without character produces the clever coward, the gifted opportunist, or the person capable of explaining every obligation except his own. Character without intellect can be equally dangerous: conviction unguided by judgment becomes rigidity, zealotry, or well-intentioned failure.
Gracián’s more subtle observation arrives at the end. A person requires not only worthy qualities, but circumstances suited to those qualities. The wrong occupation can make talent appear mediocre. The wrong companions can turn restraint into timidity or ambition into vanity. Even a capable person may spend years condemning himself for failing in an environment that rewards a fundamentally different nature.
This does not mean we should seek only comfortable surroundings. Character is partly formed through resistance. But there is a difference between an environment that tests our capacities and one that renders them useless. Wisdom consists partly in knowing which is which.
The task, then, is not merely to define one’s virtues and accumulate knowledge. It is to develop intellect and character together while becoming honest about the conditions in which each can operate.
A Modern Adaptation:
Ability is not enough. You need the character to direct it, and the judgment to place yourself where both can matter.
3. Keep Matters for a Time in Suspense.
Admiration at their novelty heightens the value of your achievements, It is both useless and insipid to play with the cards on the table. If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation, especially when the importance of your position makes you the object of general attention. Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery arouses veneration. And when you explain, be not too explicit, just as you do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary intercourse. Cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom. A resolution declared is never highly thought of; it only leaves room for criticism. And if it happens to fail, you are doubly unfortunate. Besides you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch.
Gracián understood that disclosure changes the thing being disclosed. An ambition kept private is a possibility, but once it’s announced, it becomes a promise. Others can judge or try and influence it. Once declared, they can begin measuring the distance between what was declared and what has actually been achieved. There is therefore little advantage in displaying every card before it must be played. The person who continually narrates his intentions receives the emotional reward of action before undertaking the action itself. He invites commentary while the idea is still too fragile to defend. Should he succeed, the achievement has already been discussed so thoroughly that its arrival feels expected. Should he fail, he suffers both the failure and the humiliation of having advertised it.
Gracián’s “mystery” is most useful when understood not as theatrical obscurity, but as restraint. There are plans that become weaker through premature explanation. A negotiation loses leverage when one’s limits are known. A piece of writing can be distorted by too many opinions before its argument has formed. A career move announced too early gives others time to interfere. In each case, silence protects the unfinished thing until it has developed enough strength to enter the world.
He also recognizes that the imagination often enlarges what it cannot completely see. When every motive is explained and every intention exposed, little remains for others to discover. A degree of distance allows achievement to carry an aura beyond its immediate facts. The unknown invites speculation, and speculation often grants a person more depth than exhaustive self-disclosure would. But Gracián comes dangerously close to treating obscurity as a virtue in itself. Mystery magnifies what already possesses substance; it does not compensate for its absence. A person who repeatedly hints at plans but produces nothing eventually appears not formidable, but hollow. Silence can create expectation only for so long before expectation becomes suspicion.
Nor is concealment appropriate in every setting. Those who depend upon us may require clarity rather than intrigue. A leader who withholds information necessary for others to act is not practicing worldly wisdom. He is forcing uncertainty upon people with less power. Between friends, partners, and collaborators, excessive mystery can erode the very trust on which the relationship depends.
The question is therefore not whether one should reveal or conceal, but what the moment requires. Reveal enough for others to coordinate with you. Withhold what remains provisional, vulnerable, or strategically useful. Do not explain merely to relieve the discomfort of being misunderstood.
Gracián’s final comparison to the Divine is the weakest portion of the maxim. Human secrecy does not become wise because the workings of God appear mysterious. Mystery may inspire reverence, but it can just as easily conceal confusion, vanity, or incompetence. What matters is not whether people are left wondering, but whether something worthy eventually emerges from the silence.
A Modern Adaptation:
Don’t invite judgment before your work can survive it. Let substance develop in private, then reveal it when disclosure strengthens the achievement rather than weaken it.
4. Knowledge and Courage are the elements of Greatness.
They give immortality, because they are immortal. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. A man without knowledge, a world without light. Wisdom and strength, eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is sterile.
5. Create a Feeling of Dependence.
Not he that adorns but he that adores makes a divinity. The wise man would rather see men needing him than thanking him. To keep them on the threshold of hope is diplomatic, to trust to their gratitude boorish; hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. More is to be got from dependence than from courtesy. He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well, and the orange once sucked falls from the golden platter into the waste-basket. When dependence disappears, good behaviour goes with it as well as respect. Let it be one of the chief lessons of experience to keep hope alive without entirely satisfying it, by preserving it to make oneself always needed even by a patron on the throne. But let not silence be carried to excess lest you go wrong, nor let another's failing grow incurable for the sake of your own advantage.
6. A Man at his Highest Point.
We are not born perfect: every day we develop in our personality and in our calling till we reach the highest point of our completed being, to the full round of our accomplishments, of our excellences. This is known by the purity of our taste, the clearness of our thought, the maturity of our judgment, and the firmness of our will. Some never arrive at being complete; somewhat is always awanting: others ripen late. The complete man, wise in speech, prudent in act, is admitted to the familiar intimacy of discreet persons, is even sought for by them.
7. Avoid Victories over Superiors.
All victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal. Superiority is always detested, a fortiori superiority over superiority. Caution can gloss over common advantages; for example, good looks may be cloaked by careless attire. There be some that will grant you precedence in good luck or good temper, but none in good sense, least of all a prince; for good sense is a royal prerogative, any claim to that is a case of lese majeste. They are princes, and wish to be so in that most princely of qualities. They will allow a man to help them but not to surpass them, and will have any advice tendered them appear like a recollection of something they have forgotten rather than as a guide to something they cannot find. The stars teach us this finesse with happy tact; though they are his children and brilliant like him, they never rival the brilliancy of the sun.
8. To be without Passions.
'Tis a privilege of the highest order of mind. Their very eminence redeems them from being affected by transient and low impulses. There is no higher rule than that over oneself, over one's impulses: there is the triumph of free will. While passion rules the character, no aiming at high office; the less the higher. It is the only refined way of avoiding scandals; nay, 'tis the shortest way back to good repute.
9. Avoid the Faults of your Nation.
Water shares the good or bad qualities of the strata through which it flows, and man those of the climate in which he is born. Some owe more than others to their native land, because there is a more favourable sky in the zenith. There is not a nation even among the most civilised that has not some fault peculiar to itself which other nations blame by way of boast or as a warning.
'Tis a triumph of cleverness to correct in oneself such national failings, or even to hide them: you get great credit for being unique among your fellows, and as it is less expected of you it is esteemed the more. There are also family failings as well as faults of position, of office or of age. If these all meet in one person and are not carefully guarded against, they make an intolerable monster.
10. Fortune and Fame.
Where the one is fickle the other is enduring. The first for life, the second afterwards; the one against envy , the other against oblivion. Fortune is desired, at times assisted: fame is earned. The desire for fame springs from man's best part. It was and is the sister of the giants; it always goes to extremes-horrible monsters or brilliant prodigies.
11. Cultivate those who can teach you.
Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge, and culture be taught through conversation: thus you make your friends your teachers and mingle the pleasures of conversation with the advantages of instruction. Sensible persons thus enjoy alternating pleasures: they reap applause for what they say, and gain instruction from what they hear. We are always attracted to others by our own interest, but in this case it is of a higher kind. Wise men frequent the houses of great noblemen not because they are temples of vanity, but as theatres of good breeding. There be gentlemen who have the credit of worldly wisdom, because they are not only themselves oracles of all nobleness by their example and their behaviour, but those who surround them form a well-bred academy of worldly wisdom of the best and noblest kind.
12. Nature and Art: Material and Workmanship.
There is no beauty unadorned and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by artifice: this remedies the evil and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the best of natural dispositions is uncultured, and half is lacking to any excellence if training is absent. Every one has something unpolished without artificial training, and every kind of excellence needs some polish.
13. Act sometimes on Second Thoughts, sometimes on First Impulse.
Man's life is a warfare against the malice of men. Sagacity fights with strategic changes of intention: it never does what it threatens, it aims only at escaping notice.
It aims in the air with dexterity and strikes home in an unexpected direction, always seeking to conceal its game. It lets a purpose appear in order to attract the opponent's attention, but then turns round and conquers by the unexpected. But a penetrating intelligence anticipates this by watchfulness and lurks in ambush. It always understands the opposite of what the opponent wishes it to understand, and recognises every feint of guile. It lets the first impulse pass by and waits for the second, or even the third. Sagacity now rises to higher flights on seeing its artifice foreseen, and tries to deceive by truth itself, changes its game in order to change its deceit, and cheats by not cheating, and founds deception on the greatest candour. But the opposing intelligence is on guard with increased watchfulness, and discovers the darkness concealed by the light and deciphers every move, the more subtle because more simple. In this way the guile of the Python combats the far darting rays of Apollo.
14. The Thing Itself and the Way it is done.
"Substance" is not enough: "accident" is also required, as the scholastics say . A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself.
The how plays a large part in affairs, a good manner steals into the affections. Fine behaviour is a joy in life, and a pleasant expression helps out of a difficulty in a remarkable way .
15. Keep Ministering Spirits.
It is a privilege of the mighty to surround themselves with the champions of intellect; these extricate them from every fear of ignorance, these worry out for them the moot points of every difficulty . 'Tis a rare greatness to make use of the wise, and far exceeds the barbarous taste of Tigranes, who had a fancy for captive monarchs as his servants. It is a novel kind of supremacy , the best that life can offer, to have as servants by skill those who by nature are our masters. 'Tis a great thing to know , little to live: no real life without knowledge. There is remarkable cleverness in studying without study , in getting much by means of many , and through them all to become wise. Afterwards you speak in the council chamber on behalf of many , and as many sages speak through your mouth as were consulted beforehand: you thus obtain the fame of an oracle by others' toil. Such ministering spirits distil the best books and serve up the quintessence of wisdom. But he that cannot have sages in service should have them for his friends.
16. Knowledge and Good Intentions.
Together ensure continuance of success. A fine intellect wedded to a wicked will was always an unnatural monster. A wicked will envenoms all excellences: helped by knowledge it only ruins with greater subtlety. 'Tis a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge without sense is double folly .
17. Vary the Mode of Action.
Not always the same way , so as to distract attention, especially if there be a rival. Not always from first impulse; they will soon recognise the uniformity , and by anticipating, frustrate your designs. It is easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies straight: not so one that twists. Nor always act on second thoughts: they can discern the plan the second time. The enemy is on the watch, great skill is required to circumvent him. The gamester never plays the card the opponent expects, still less that which he wants.
18. Application and Ability.
There is no attaining eminence without both, and where they unite there is the greatest eminence. Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it. Work is the price which is paid for reputation. What costs little is little worth. Even for the highest posts it is only in some cases application that is wanting, rarely the talent. To prefer moderate success in great things than eminence in a humble post has the excuse of a generous mind, but not so to be content with humble mediocrity when you could shine among the highest. Thus nature and art are both needed, and application sets on them the seal.
19. Arouse no Exaggerated Expectations on entering.
It is the usual ill-luck of all celebrities not to fulfil afterwards the expectations beforehand formed of them. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is easy to form ideals but very difficult to realise them. Imagination weds Hope and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However great the excellences, they never suffice to fulfil expectations, and as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations they are more ready to be disillusionised than to admire. Hope is a great falsifier of truth; let skill guard against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. A few creditable attempts at the beginning are sufficient to arouse curiosity without pledging one to the final object. It is better that reality should surpass the design and is better than was thought. This rule does not apply to the wicked, for the same exaggeration is a great aid to them; they are defeated amid general applause, and what seemed at first extreme ruin comes to be thought quite bearable.
20. A Man of the Age.
The rarest individuals depend on their age. It is not every one that finds the age he deserves, and even when he finds it he does not always know how to utilise it. Some men have been worthy of a better century , for every species of good does not always triumph. Things have their period; even excellences are subject to fashion. The sage has one advantage: he is immortal. If this is not his century many others will be.
21. The Art of being Lucky.
There are rules of luck: it is not all chance with the wise: it can be assisted by care. Some content themselves with placing them-selves confidently at the gate of Fortune, waiting till she opens it. Others do better, and press forward and profit by their clever boldness, reaching the goddess and winning her favour on the wings of their virtue and valour. But on a true philosophy there is no other umpire than virtue and insight; for there is no luck or ill-luck except wisdom and the reverse.
22. A Man of Knowledge to the Point.
Wise men arm themselves with tasteful and elegant erudition; a practical knowledge of what is going on not of a common kind but more like an expert. They possess a copious store of wise and witty sayings, and of noble deeds, and know how to employ them on fitting occasions. More is often taught by a jest than by the most serious teaching. Pat knowledge helps some more than the seven arts, be they ever so liberal.
23. Be Spotless: the indispensable condition of perfection.
Few live without some weak point, either physical or moral, which they pamper because they could easily cure it. The keenness of others often regrets to see a slight defect attaching itself to a whole assembly of elevated qualities, and yet a single cloud can hide the whole of the sun. There are likewise patches on our reputation which ill-will soon finds out and is continually noticing. The highest skill is to transform them into ornament. So Caesar hid his natural defects with the laurel.
24. Keep the Imagination under Control.
Sometimes correcting, sometimes assisting it. For it is all-important for our happiness, and even sets the reason right. It can tyrannise, and is not content with looking on, but influences and even often dominates life, causing it to be happy or burdensome according to the folly to which it leads. For it makes us either contented or discontented with ourselves. Before some it continually holds up the penalties of action, and becomes the mortifying lash of these fools. To others it promises happiness and adventure with blissful delusion. It can do all this unless the most prudent self-control keeps it in subjection.
25. Know how to take a Hint.
'Twas once the art of arts to be able to discourse; now 'tis no longer sufficient. W e must know how to take a hint, especially in disabusing ourselves. He cannot make himself understood who does not himself easily understand. But on the other hand there are pretended diviners of the heart and lynxes of the intentions. The very truths which concern us most can only be half spoken, but with attention we can grasp the whole meaning. When you hear anything favourable keep a tight rein on your credulity; if unfavourable, give it the spur.
26. Find out each Man's Thumbscrew.
'Tis the art of setting their wills in action. It needs more skill than resolution. Y ou must know where to get at any one. Every volition has a special motive which varies according to taste. All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure. Skill consists in knowing these idols in order to bring them into play . Knowing any man's mainspring of motive you have as it were the key to his will. Have resort to primary motors, which are not always the highest but more often the lowest part of his nature: there are more dispositions badly organised than well.
First guess a man's ruling passion, appeal to it by a word, set it in motion by temptation, and you will infallibly give checkmate to his freedom of will.
27. Prize Intensity more than Extent.
Excellence resides in quality not in quantity. The best is always few and rare: much lowers value. Even among men giants are commonly the real dwarfs.
Some reckon books by the thickness, as if they were written to try the brawn more than the brain. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity: it is the misfortune of universal geniuses that in attempting to be at home everywhere, are so nowhere. Intensity gives eminence, and rises to the heroic in matters sublime.
28. Common in Nothing.
First, not in taste. O great and wise, to be ill at ease when your deeds please the mob! The excesses of popular applause never satisfy the sensible. Some there are such chameleons of popularity that they find enjoyment not in the sweet savours of Apollo but in the breath of the mob. Secondly , not in intelligence. Take no pleasure in the wonder of the mob, for ignorance never gets beyond wonder. While vulgar folly wonders wisdom watches for the trick.
29. A Man of Rectitude.
Clings to the sect of right with such tenacity of purpose that neither the passions of the mob nor the violence of the tyrant can ever cause him to transgress the bounds of right. But who shall be such a Phoenix of equity? What a scanty following has rectitude!
Many praise it indeed, but--for others. Others follow it till danger threatens; then the false deny it, the politic conceal it. For it cares not if it fights with friendship, power, or even self interest: then comes the danger of desertion.
Then astute men make plausible distinctions so as not to stand in the way of their superiors or of reasons of state. But the straightforward and constant regard dissimulation as a kind of treason, and set more store on tenacity than on sagacity . Such are always to be found on the side of truth, and if they desert a party , they do not change from fickleness, but because the others have first deserted truth.
30. Have naught to do with Occupations of Ill repute.
Still less with fads that bring more notoriety than repute. There are many fanciful sects, and from all the prudent man has to flee. There are bizarre tastes that always take to their heart all that wise men repudiate; they live in love with singularity . This may make them well known indeed, but more as objects of ridicule than of repute. A cautious man does not even make profession of his wisdom, still less of those matters that make their followers ridiculous. These need not be specified, for common contempt has sufficiently singled them out.
31. Select the Lucky and avoid the Unlucky.
Ill luck is generally the penalty of folly, and there is no disease so contagious to those who share in it. Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it. The greatest skill at cards is to know when to discard; the smallest of current trumps is worth more than the ace of trumps of the last game. When in doubt, follow the suit of the wise and prudent; sooner or later they will win the odd trick.
32. Have the Reputation of being Gracious.
'Tis the chief glory of the high and mighty to be gracious, a prerogative of kings to conquer universal goodwill. That is the great advantage of a commanding position — to be able to do more good than others. Those make friends who do friendly acts. On the other hand, there are some who lay themselves out for not being gracious, not on account of the difficulty, but from a bad disposition. In all things they are the opposite of Divine grace.
33. Know how to Withdraw.
If it is a great lesson in life to know how to deny, it is a still greater to know how to deny oneself as regards both affairs and persons. There are extraneous occupations which eat away precious time. To be occupied in what does not concern you is worse than doing nothing. It is not enough for a careful man not to interfere with others, he must see that they do not interfere with him. One is not obliged to belong so much to all as not to belong at all to oneself. So with friends, their help should not be abused or more demanded from them than they themselves will grant. All excess is a failing, but above all in personal intercourse. A wise moderation in this best preserves the goodwill and esteem of all, for by this means that precious boon of courtesy is not gradually worn away. Thus you preserve your genius free to select the elect, and never sin against the unwritten laws of good taste.
34. Know your strongest Point.
Your pre-eminent gift; cultivate that and you will assist the rest. Every one would have excelled in something if he had known his strong point. Notice in what quality you surpass, and take charge of that. In some judgment excels, in others valour. Most do violence to their natural aptitude, and thus attain superiority in nothing. Time disillusions us too late of what first flattered the passions.
35. Think over Things.
Most over the most Important. All fools come to grief from want of thought. They never see even the half of things, and as they do not observe their own loss or gain, still less do they apply any diligence to them. Some make much of what imports little and little of much, always weighing in the wrong scale.
Many never lose their common sense, because they have none to lose. There are matters which should be observed with the closest attention of the mind, and thenceforth kept in its lowest depths. The wise man thinks over everything, but with a difference, most profoundly where there is some profound difficulty, and thinks that perhaps there is more in it than he thinks. Thus his comprehension extends as far as his apprehension.
36. In Acting or Refraining, weigh your Luck.
More depends on that than on noticing your temperament. If he is a fool who at forty applies to Hippocrates for health, still more is he one who then first applies to Seneca for wisdom. It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it. For something is to be done with it by waiting so as to use it at the proper moment, since it has periods and offers opportunities, though one cannot calculate its path, its steps are so irregular. When you find Fortune favourable, stride boldly forward, for she favours the bold and, being a woman, the young. But if you have bad luck, keep retired so as not to redouble the influence of your unlucky star.
37. Keep a Store of Sarcasms, and know how to use them.
This is the point of greatest tact in human intercourse. Such sarcasms are often thrown out to test men's moods, and by their means one often obtains the most subtle and penetrating touchstone of the heart. Other sarcasms are malicious, insolent, poisoned by envy or envenomed by passion, unexpected flashes which destroy at once all favour and esteem. Struck by the slightest word of this kind, many fall away from the closest intimacy with superiors or inferiors which could not be the slightest shaken by a whole conspiracy of popular insinuation or private malevolence. Other sarcasms, on the other hand, work favourably, confirming and assisting one's reputation. But the greater the skill with which they are launched, the greater the caution with which they should be received and the foresight with which they should he foreseen. For here a knowledge of the evil is in itself a means of defence, and a shot foreseen always misses its mark.
38. Leave your Luck while Winning.
All the best players do it. A fine retreat is as good as a gallant attack. Bring your exploits under cover when there are enough, or even when there are many of them. Luck long lasting was ever suspicious; interrupted seems safer, and is even sweeter to the taste for a little infusion of bitter-sweet. The higher the heap of luck, the greater the risk of a slip, and down comes all. Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favours by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.
39. Recognise when Things are ripe, and then enjoy them.
The works of nature all reach a certain point of maturity; up to that they improve, after that they degenerate. Few works of art reach such a point that they cannot be improved. It is an especial privilege of good taste to enjoy everything at its ripest. Not all can do this, nor do all who can know this. There is a ripening point too for fruits of intellect; it is well to know this both for their value in use and for their value in exchange.
40. The Goodwill of People.
'Tis much to gain universal admiration; more, universal love. Something depends on natural disposition, more on practice: the first founds, the second then builds on that foundation. Brilliant parts suffice not, though they are presupposed; win good opinion and 'tis easy to win goodwill. Kindly acts besides are required to produce kindly feelings, doing good with both hands, good words and better deeds, loving so as to be loved. Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages. First lay hand on deeds and then on pens; words follow swords; for there is goodwill to be won among writers, and it is eternal.