Introduction

The Art of Worldly Wisdom, in Spanish 'The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence', consists of three hundred maxims, each opening with a terse aphorism and then expanding on it. Gracián teaches how to stay clear-headed and make something of oneself in a world full of calculation, envy and deceit: 'Never show all your abilities at once'; 'Know how to say no'; 'Know your chief fault'; 'Know how to use your enemies'; 'Act as though you were immortal, and live as though you would die tomorrow.' Concentrated in language and penetrating in insight, it has for more than three centuries been a bedside companion for countless readers; Schopenhauer called it a book 'to accompany one through life'.