Why Nietzsche loved Baltasar Gracián
“...in the experience of life, Gracián shows incomparable wisdom and clear-sightedness.”
Baltasar Gracián was born in 1601 AD (died 1658 AD) in Belmonte, a village in Aragon, Spain. After completing his schooling in Zaragoza, Valencia, he joined the Jesuit Order (1634) and became a Professor of theology & philosophy, preacher, confessor, chaplain, administrator, and writer.
Gracián's writings, especially the Art of Worldly Wisdom, influenced Friedrich Nietzsche, Authur Schopenhauer, and the contemporary writer Robert Greene.
A brilliant mind by all measures; however, he often found himself at odds with the Jesuit community. The Jesuits didn’t like that Gracián focused on worldly matters vs. spiritual matters.
But this never stopped Gracián's mainly because of his friendship with Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa, a wealthy nobleman. Lastanosa always had Gracian’s back, and stood up for his ideas against the Jesuits.
Words of wisdom from Gracian
“Every hero has only as much happiness and greatness as virtue, for they run parallel, from birth to death.”
Four paths to wisdom. “There are four ways to know much: live for many years; travel through many lands; read many good books (which is easiest); and converse with wise friends (which is most enjoyable).”
Without self-knowledge, you degenerate into a slave. “The ancients wrote it forever, in letters of gold on the wall at Delphos, and in characters of esteem in the souls of the wise: know thyself. Of all living creatures, only man mistakes his end, only he can stumble, led astray by the very nobility of his free will. And the person who begins by not knowing himself will never know anything well. What good is wisdom unless you are wise to yourself? We degenerate into the slaves of our slaves as often as we submit to vice. No robber, no sphinx, assails the traveller, assaults the living, like self-ignorance. Ignorance condemned to stupidity, when it does not know it does not know, and does not notice its lack of attention.”
Opposites exist for each other. “To know happiness, you must know its opposite. Only a hungry man relishes his food, and a thirsty one his drink, a tired one his rest. Those who most treasure a prolonged peace are those who have gone through the misery of war… you will see many who do not relish their goods because they have never tasted evils. And thus I would say that the person who is happy is the one who has been unhappy.”
Pursue excellence beyond a single niche. “Usually, what is most comfortable and enjoyable is least heroic. A person who is truly excellent should not limit himself to one perfection or another, but rather, with infinite ambitions, aspire to a laudable universality. His knowledge should be more intense the more important his occupation.”
A necessary condition for enlightenment is knowing yourself. “Let the discreet begin to know by knowing themselves, attentive to their own temperament and reason… doing violence to one’s temperament has often led to disaster.”
Realize that each present moment is only experienced once. “The wise have always drawn on reflection, imagining themselves newly arrived in the world, pausing over its prodigies—for each thing is one—admiring perfection and ingeniously philosophizing.”
“All brilliance descends from on high. Virtue is the daughter of the light, with an inheritance of splendour. Sin is a monster aborted by blindness, with an inheritance of darkness.”
Till next week,
Peace!