Three hundred short rules of advice on how to get ahead in life and handle other people wisely. One warns never to compete with someone who has nothing to lose.
124 pages 2h 24m reading time
A classic book of practical wisdom and an early forerunner of self-help.
Advises that getting ahead among rivals takes prudence, self-control and knowing when to reveal or hide your aims.
Insists that worldly success and moral virtue can go together.
Schopenhauer translated it into German, and Nietzsche admired its moral subtlety.
Hidden behind his brother's name
As a Jesuit he needed his order's approval to publish, so he printed it under his brother Lorenzo's name.
Gathered from earlier books
Many of the rules were drawn from his earlier writings, boiled down into short, sharp sayings.
Printed by a wealthy friend
His friend and patron, the collector Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa, helped publish it in Huesca, Spain.
Trouble with his superiors
His order later punished him for repeatedly publishing without permission, sending him away from his teaching post.
Balthasar Gracian 1647