because they feel and others live because they feel not So that the one are Fools because they die not of feeling and the others because they die of it That man is a fool who dies of too much understanding So that some die to be Vnderstanding Men and other 's live not to be understood But though many die like Fools yet very few Fools die MAXIME CCIX. Not to imitate the folly of others Is an effect of rare wisedome for whatever is introduced by example and custome is of great force Some who have guarded against particular ignorance have not been able to avoid the general It 's a common saying that no man is content with his own condition though it be the best nor dissatisfied with his wit though it be the worst Every one envies the happiness of another because he is not content with his own Modern men praise ancient things and those that are here things that are there All that 's past seems best and all that 's remote is most esteemed He is as great a Fool that laughs at all things as he that vexes at every thing MAXIME CCX To know how to make use of truth Truth is dangerous but yet a good man cannot forbear to speak it And in that there is need of art The skilfull Physicians of the Soul have essayed all means to sweeten it For when it touches to the quick it is the quintessence of bitterness Discretion in that particular unfolds all its address with the same truth it flatters one and kills another We ought to speak to those that are present under the name of the absent or dead To the understanding a sign is enough and if that be not sufficient the best expedient is to hold ones peace Princes are not cured by bitter Medicines It requires art to guild their Pill In the third Critick of the third part of the Authours Criticon he saith That after many consultations about the means of recalling Truth into the world from whence men had banished it to put falshood in its place it was resolved to make it up in a great quantity of Sugar for qualifying the bitterness of it and then to doe it over with the Powder of Amber to take from it its strong and unpleasant smell After that it should be given to men to drink in a Golden Cup and not in a Glass least it might be seen through it telling them that it was an excellent liquour brought from a-far and more precious than Chocolate Coffee or Sarbet Then he adds They began with Princes to the end that in imitation of them all men might drink of it But seeing they have a very delicate smelling they smelt the bitterness of that drink at a Leagues distance which began to turn their stomach and force them to vomit c. And in his Discreet in the Dialogue entituled El Buen entendedor he brings in a Doctour saying to speak truth now a-days is called brutishness and folly And he makes answer And therefore no body will speak it to those who are not accustomed to hear it There remain onely now some scraps of it in the world nor do these neither appear but with mystery ceremony and circumspection With Princes replies the Doctour men always fetch a compass It concerns them then to take good heed to that answers Gracian inasmuch as the losing or gaining of all lies thereby at stake Verity adds the Doctour is a Maid no less modest than beautifull and that 's the reason why she goes always veiled But Princes then replyed Gracian ought gallantly to uncover her It concerns them much to be good Diviners and sharp-sighted Linxes that they may dive in truth and discern falshood The more every one studies to mutter onely the truth to them between their teeth the more they give it them ready chewed and easie to be digested to the end it may doe them the more good At present undeception is politick it goes commonly betwixt two lights either that it may get out of the darkness of flattery if it meet a Fop or that it may advance to the light of truth if it meet with a Man of wit MAXIME CCXI. In Heaven all is pleasure in Hell all pain The world being in the middle has a share of both We are betwixt two extremes and so we participate of both There is an alternative of destiny neither can all be happiness nor all unhappiness This world is a cypher all alone it is of no value joined to Heaven it is worth a great deal It is wisedome to be indifferent as to all its changes for Novelty moves not the wise Our life is acted like a Play The Catastrophy is in the last Act. The chief part then is to end it well MAXIME CCXII. Not to discover the mystery of ones Art Great Masters use this Cunning even when they teach their Trade One must always preserve a Superiority and continue to be Master There is need of Art in communicating ones Art the source of teaching and that of giving must never be drained That 's the means of preserving Reputation and Authority To have always somewhat that may feed admiration by advancing things still to greater perfection is a great precept to be observed in the matter of pleasing and teaching In all sorts of Professions and particularly in the most sublime employments not to be lavish of ones self hath been a great rule for living and prevailing MAXIME CCXIII. To know how to contradict It is an excellent stratagem when one can doe it not to be engaged but to engage It is the onely Rack that can extort Passions Slowness in believing is a Vomitive that brings up secrets and a Key that can open the best lockt heart To sound both the will and judgment requires great dexterity A slie contempt of some mysterious words of another's hunts out the most impenetrable secrets and pleasantly wheadles them to the point of the Tongue that they may so be caught in the toils of artifice The reservedness of him who stands upon his guard makes his spy draw off to a distence and so he discovers the thought of another which otherwise was impenetrable An affected Doubt is a false Key of a cunning contrivance whereby Curiosity unlocks all that it hath a mind to know In matter of learning it is a cunning fetch in the Schollar to contradict his Master inasmuch as it lays an obligation upon him to labour to explain the truth with greater perspicuity and solidity So that moderate contradiction gives him that teaches occasion to teach thoroughly MAXIME CCXIV. Of one Folly not to make two Nothing more ordinary than after one hath committed one piece of foppery to doe three or four more in making amends for it One impertinence is excused by another greater Foppishness is of the race of Lying or this of the race of that to make good one there is need of a great many others The defence of a bad Cause hath
always been worse than the Cause it self Not to know how to cover the evil is a greater evil than the evil it self The revenue of imperfections is to let out a great many others to Rent The wisest man may very well fail once but not twice transiently and by inadvertency but not deliberately See the Maxime 261. MAXIME CCXV To have an eye over him that looks one way and rows another It 's the stratagem of a man of business to amuse the will that he may attack it For so soon as it is convinced it is over-come He dissembles his intention that he may attain to it he puts himself in the second rank that he may be the first in execution He makes sure of his blow through the inadventency of his Adversary Let not then thy attention sleep since the intention of thine adversary is so vigilant And if the intention be the second in dissimulation the discerning ought to be the first in knowledge It is an act of circumspection to find out the artifice that one makes use of and to observe the aims he takes for hitting the ends of his intentions Seeing he proposes one thing and pretends another and that he turns and winds that he may slily reach his ends we are to look well about us what we grant to such an one and sometimes it will not even be amiss to let him know that we have discovered his designs MAXIME CCXVI To speak clearly That shews not onely a disengagedness but also a vivacity of wit Some conceive well and bring forth ill For without light the Children of the Soul that 's to say thoughts and expressions cannot come into the World There are some much like to those pots which hold much and let little out On the contraray others say more than they know What resolution is in the will expression is in the understanding They are too great perfections Clear Wits are plausible confused heads have been admired because not understood Sometime obscurity is gracefull to distinguish one from the Rabble But how can others judge of what they hear if those who speak conceive not themselves what they say MAXIME CCXVII We must neither love nor hate for ever Live to day with thy Friends as with those who to morrow may be thy worst Enemies Seeing that is found by experience it is very reasonable to be upon ones guard Have a care not to give Arms to the deserters of Friendship inasmuch as they 'll fight with them more cruelly against thy self On the contrary in regard of thine Enemies leave always a door open to reconciliation to wit that of Gallantry which is the surest Sometimes former revenge hath been the cause of future repentance and the pleasure of doing evil turns into the displeasure of having done it MAXIME CCXVIII To doe nothing whimsically but every thing with circumspection Every whimsey is an imposthume It is the eldest son of passion that does all things the backward way There are some who turn every thing into a kind of skirmishing They are Ruffians in Conversation and would make a triumph of every thing they doe They know not what it is to be peacefull In commanding and governing they are pernitious because they turn Government into a league offensive and form a party of Enemies of those whom they ought to look upon as Children They 'll have all things go in their way and carry every thing as the result of their Conduct But so soon as men discover their paradoxical humour they stand upon their guard against them their Chimera's are flung back to them again and by consequent they are so far from gaining their point that they heap up to themselves vexations every one lending a hand to their mortification These silly people have a crackt brain and sometimes also an unsound heart The way to get rid of such Monsters is to flie to the Antipodes the barbarity whereof will be more supportable than the fierce and haughty humour of these men MAXIME CCXIX. Not to pass for a Crafty Man The truth is there is no living now adays without using it But it is better to chuse to be prudent than cunning An open humour is agreeable to all men but a great many love not to have it Sincerity ought not to degenerate into simplicity nor Wisedom into Artifice Better it is to be respected as Wise than feared as Crafty Sincere People are loved but deceived It is the greatest cunning to hide that which passes for cheating Candour flourished in the golden Age Malice has its turn in this age of Iron The reputation of knowing what one hath to doe is honourable and procures confidence but that of being artificious is sophistical and begets distrust MAXIME CCXX To cover our selves with the Foxe's skin when we cannot doe it with the Lyon's To yield to the times is to exceed He that compasses his design never loses his Reputation Art ought to supply strength If we cannot proceed in the King's high-way of open force we must take the by-path of Artifice Wiles are far more expeditious than strength The wise have oftener got the better of the brave than the brave of the wise When an enterprize fails the door is open to contempt MAXIME CCXXI Not to be too ready to engage nor to engage another There are some men cut out for blundering and making others stumble against decency They are always at the point of doing some foppery They are very apt to jostle rudely but they unhappily break to pieces They don't come off for an hundred quarrels a day Their humour being cross-grained they contradict all men in all things Having their judgment set the wrong way they disapprove every thing It belongs onely to these great free-booters of prudence to doe nothing right and to censure every thing as wrong What Monsters are there in the large Countrey of impertinence MAXIME CCXXII A reserved man is apparently a prudent man The Tongue is a wild Beast very hard to be chained again when once it is let loose It is the pulse whereby the wise know the disposition of the Soul By that intelligent men feel the motion of the heart The mischief is that he who ought to be the most discreet is the least The wise man avoids fretting and engaging and thereby shews how much he is master of himself He acts with circumspection He is a Janus in counterpoising and an Argus in discerning Momus might have said with better reason that the hands wanted eyes than that the heart needed a little window MAXIME CCXXIII. Not to be too singular neither through affectation nor inadvertency Some make themselves remarkable by their singularity that 's to say by foolish actions which are rather faults than differences and as some are known to all men by some deformity in the face so are these by I know not what excess that appears in their countenance To be singular is good for nothing unless it be to make one pass for an
Fools A man armed with Prudence will never be baffled by impertinence The Navigation of civil life is dangerous because it is full of Rocks on which Reputation splits The surest way is to turn aside taking lessons of cunning from Vlysses Here an artificious defeat does great service But above all save thy self by thy wit For that 's the shortest way of making the best of a bad bargain MAXIME CCLVII Never to come to a Rupture For Reputation by so doing comes always off shattered Any man is sufficient to be an Enemy but not a Friend Few are in a condition of doing good but all almost can doe mischief The Eagle is not secure in the armes of Jupiter himself if it offend the Beetle Secret Enemies that lie upon the watch blow the fire when they see the War declared Friends that quarrel become the worst Enemies They reckon their own choice amongst other mens faults Spectatours of the rupture speak severally of it as they think and think what they desire They condemn both parties either for want of foresight in the beginning or of patience in the end but always of Prudence If the rupture be inevitable it ought at least to be excusable An indifference would doe better than a violent declaration On this occasion a handsome retreat is honourable MAXIME CCLVIII. To look out for one that may help to carry the burthen of adversity Be never alone especially in dangers Else thou wilt charge thy self with all the hatred Some think to raise themselves by taking upon them the whole oversight of businesses and they attract to themselves all the envy whereas with a companion one secures himself against the evil or at least bears but part of it Neither fortune nor the whimsey of the people can play so easily upon two The skilfull Physician who hath not succeeded in the cure of his Patient never fails to take the assistence of another who under the name of consultation helps him to bear up the Pall. Divide then the office and trouble of it for it is intolerable to suffer alone MAXIME CCLIX To prevent offences and turn them into favours There is more dexterity in shunning than in revenging them It is great address to make a confident of him who might have been an Adversary and to transform those into butteresses of Reputation who threatned to ruine the same It is of great use to know how to oblige To prevent an injury by a favour is to intercept its course and it is great skill in living to change that which was like to cause nothing but discontent into pleasure Place then thy confidence in malevolence it self MAXIME CCLX Thou shalt never be wholly at the devotion of any one nor any one at thine Neither is bloud friendship nor the strictest obligation sufficient for that For it must be another-guess interest that can oblige one to abandon his heart and will The greatest union admits of exception and without prejudice too to the laws of most intimate Friendship The Friend always reserves some secret and the Son conceals somewhat even from the Father Some things are made mysteries to some and yet communicated to others and contrariwise so that a man resigns or refuses himself wholly according to the distinction he makes of those of his Correspondence MAXIME CCLXI Not to continue a Foppery Some make an engagement of their mistakes when they have once begun to fail they think they are concerned in honour to continue Their heart accuses their fault and their mouth defends it Whence it happens that if they have been taxed for inadvertency when they began the foppery they pass for fools when they continue it An imprudent proneness and a rash resolution impose no obligation Thus some continue their first foolery and make their silliness the more remarkable by a vanity in appearing constant impertinents See the Maxime 214. MAXIME CCLXII To know how to forget That 's a happiness rather than an art Those things are best remembred which ought most to be forgotten The memory hath not onely the incivility to fail one in time of need but also the impertinence to be unseasonably officious In all that 's like to be troublesome it is prodigal and barren in every thing that might give pleasure Sometimes the remedy of the evil consists in forgetting it and we forget the remedy Memory then must be accustomed to take another course because it is it that can give us either a Paradise or a Hell I except those who live contentedly For in their state of Innocence they enjoy the felicity of Idiots MAXIME CCLXIII Many things that serve for pleasure ought not to be peculiar One enjoys more of what is another's than of what belongs to himself The first day is for the Master and all the rest for Strangers One doubly enjoys what belongs to others that 's to say not onely without fear of loss but also with the pleasure of Novelty Privation makes every thing better The water of another man 's Well is as delicious as Nectar Besides that possession lessens the pleasure of enjoyment it augments the trouble whether in lending or in not lending It serves onely to preserve things for another and over and above the number of the discontented is always greater than of the thankfull MAXIME CCLXIV To be at no time careless Lot takes pleasure in surprize It will let slip a thousand occasions to take its men one day napping Wit Prudence and Courage ought to be upon the guard and in like manner beauty inasmuch as the day of its confidence will be that of the loss of its credit The Who thought on 't is the trip that turns up the heels Besides it is an ordinary trick of others malice to lay a snare for good qualities that they may be more rigorously sifted The days of ostentation are well known and cunning pretends not to mind it but it chuses the day when one least expects to make a tryal of what one is able to doe MAXIME CCLXV. To know how to engage ones Dependents A pat engagement hath put a great many men in credit just as a ship wreck makes good swimmers By that many have displayed their industry and ability which would have lain buried in their retirement if occasion had not presented Difficulties and dangers are the causes and spurs of Reputation A great courage in the occasions of honour does as much service as a thousand others Queen Isabelle of Castile knew eminently that lesson of engaging as well as all others and the great Captain Gonsalvo owed all his Reputation to that politick Address which was the cause also that many others became great men MAXIME CCLXVI. To be too good is to be naught He is so who is never angry Insensible men are scarcely men That quality proceeds not always from indolency but often from incapacity To resent when it is proper is the action of a complete man Birds at first sight scorn your carved figures To
evil wherein exaggeration serves to belie calumnie and detraction with the greater applause by making that appear tolerable which was thought to be abominable MAXIME XX. Every man in his time People of extraordinary and eminent merit depend on the Times All have not had the Age they deserved and many who have met with that have not had the happiness to make the best of it Others have been worthy of a better Age which is an argument that every thing that is good does not always triumph Things of this world have their seasons and that which is most eminent is obnoxious to the freakishness of Custome But it is always the comfort of a Wise Man that he is Eternal For if his own age be ungreatefull to him those that come after doe him Justice MAXIME XXI The Art of being happy There are rules of good Fortune and Happiness in regard of a Wise Man is not always fortuitous His industry can help it forwards Some think it enough to stand at the Gate of Fortune in a good posture and expect till she open it Others doe better and trusting to their confidence or merit advance farther on so that by cajoling of Fortune soon or late they gain her However according to right Philosophy vertue and application are the onely Arbiters of a man's lot For as imprudence is the source of all the crosses of life so Prudence is the cause of all its happiness MAXIME XXII The Man that takes A gentile Education is the portion of Men of Breeding The knowledge of the Affairs of the Time good sayings spoken to purpose pleasant ways of doing things make the man of fashion and the more he excells in these things the less he holds of the vulgar Sometimes a sign or gesture makes deeper impression than all the documents of a severe Master The art of conversing hath stood in greater stead to some than the seven liberal Arts all together MAXIME XXIII To have no blemish There is no perfection without an If or a But. There are but very few that want faults either in manners or body But there are a great many who are vain of the faults which it would be easie for them to amend When we see the smallest defect in an accomplished man we say it's pity because one Cloud is enough to eclipse all the Sun These defects are blemishes at which envy levels It would be a notable piece of skill to change them into persections as Julius Caesar did who being bald covered that defect under the shadow of his Laurels MAXIME XXIV To moderate ones own imagination The true means of living happy and of being always esteemed Wise is either to correct it or confine it Otherwise it takes a Tyrannical Empire over us and transgressing the limits of speculation becomes so very absolute that life is happy or miserable according to the different fancies that it imprints upon us For to some it represents nothing but pains and trouble and through their folly becomes their Domestick Executioner Others there are again to whom it proposes onely pleasures and grandeurs delighting to divert them in dreams And these are the effects of imagination when not curb'd by reason MAXIME XXV A good Pryer To understand the art of reasoning and discourse was heretofore the Science of Sciences but that alone will not doe now a-days we must guess and divine and especially if we would undeceive our selves He that is not a good Pryer can never be a good Judge There are Spies over the heart and intentions The truths which import us most are never told us but by halves A man of Wit must dive into the meaning of them checking his credulity in what appears advantageous and giving the reins to believe as to that which is odious MAXIME XXVI To find out the weak side of every one That is the art of managing humours and of gaining our ends upon men It depends more upon skill than resolution to know how to win upon the minds of People There is no will that hath not its predominant passion and these passions are different according to the diversity of tempers All men are Idolaters some of honour others of interest and most part of their pleasures The skill is then to know aright these Idols if we would hit the weak side of those who adore them He that can doe so has the key of another man's will We must move with the first mover and that is not always the higher but most commonly the lower faculty For in this world the number of those who are irregular is far greater than of those who are not We are first to know the Character of the Person next feel his Pulse and then attack him by his strongest passion which is his weaker side That is a sure way to gain the Party MAXIME XXVII To prefer intention before extention Perfection consists not in quantity but in quality Of all that is very good there is always but very little That whereof there is much is little esteemed And even amongst men Giants pass commonly for real Dwarfs some value Books for their bulk as if they were made rather to load the Arms than to exercise the mind Extention alone could never exceed mediocrity And it is the unhappiness of men that offer at every thing to excell in nothing because they would excell in all Intention gives an eminent rank and makes a Heroe if the matter be sublime MAXIME XXVIII To have nothing that 's vulgar He was a man of an excellent discerning whom it displeased to please many Wise Men are never fond of vulgar Applause There are Camelions of so popular a palate that they take more pleasure to suck in a gross air than to smell the sweet Zephyres of Apollo Be not dazled at the sight of the miracles of the vulgar Ignorants are always in a maze That which makes the folly of the mobile admire undeceives the discerning of the Wise MAXIME XXIX The upright Man One ought always to be on the side of Reason and that so constantly that neither vulgar passion nor any tyrannical violence may be able to make him abandon the party But where is that Phoenix of equity to be found Sure she has not many Adherents There are many who publish her praises but will not admit her into their Houses Others follow her as far as danger will permit but when they come to that some like salse Friends deny her and the rest like Politicians pretend they know her not She on the contrary scruples not to fall out with Friends with Powers nay and with her own interest and there lies the danger of mistaking her The cunning stand neuter and by a plausible and metaphysical subtilty endeavour to reconcile their Conscience with reason of state But an upright man looks upon that way of trimming as a kind of Treason thinking it more honour to be constant than to be a Statesman He is always where truth is and if he
listening to the applauses of an entry A vigilant Palinurus governed not his Vessel by the head but by the stern There he keeps himself that he may conduct her through the voyage of this life all the disgrace and as he says in the beginning of that Chapter all the race of misfortune remains for the end as all the bitterness is at the ground of the potion The precept of that Roman for beginning and ending was excellent who said that he had obtained all Dignities before he desired them and had left them all before they were desired by others Misfortune is sometimes the punishment of immoderation It is the comfort of the Wise that they have retired before Fortune withdrew Heaven it self hath employed that remedy in favours of some Heroes Moses disappeared and Elias was taken up that so they might end in triumph MAXIME LX. Good sense Some are born Prudent by a natural inclination they enter into the way of wisedom and they are got almost half way at first Their reason ripens with age and experience and at length they attain to the highest degree of judgment They startle at capriciousness as a temptation of their prudence but especially in matters of State which by reason of their extreme importance require the strictest circumspection Such men deserve to sit at the helm of Government or at least to be Counsellers to those who hold it MAXIME LXI To excell in the excellent Is a thing very singular in the plurality of perfections There can be no Heroe without some extreme sublimity Mediocrity is not an object big enough for applause Eminence in a high employment distinguishes from the vulgar and raises one to the category of rare men To be eminent in a low profession is to be great in little and something in nothing What is most delectable is least sublime Eminence in high matters is as a character of Sovereignty which excites admiration and conciliates good will MAXIME LXII To make use of good Instruments Some make the quaintness of their wit to consist in employing bad instruments A dangerous point of honour and worthy of an unhappy issue The excellence of the Minister hath never lessened the glory of the Master on the contrary all the honour of the success rebounds upon the principal cause and in like manner all the blame Fame sounds always the praises of the first Authours It never says That Man hath had good or bad Servants but That he hath been a good or bad Workman One must therefore endeavour to chuse his Ministers well since on them depends the immortality of Reputation MAXIME LXIII The excellence of Primacy If Primacy be backed by Eminence it is on a double account excellent It is a great advantage to have the hand at play for that gives the better on 't if the Cards be equal Several had been the Phoenix of their Profession if others had not gone before them The first have the birth-right in the inheritance of reputation and there remains but a scanty portion of the Juniors nay and that too contested It 's to no purpose for those to fret they cannot baffle the opinion which the world hath that they doe no more but imitate Great spirits have always affected a new way for attaining to excellence yet so that Prudence hath always been employed for their guide The Wise by the novelty of their enterprises get themselves to be listed in the Catalogue of Heroes Some had rather be the Captains of the second form than the seconds of the first MAXIME LXIV To vex as little as may be Is a most usefull Science It 's as the Midwife to all the happiness of life It is good for nothing either to give or receive bad tidings We are onely to give entry to those that asswage trouble There are some who employ their Ear onely in hearing flatteries others please themselves to listen to false reports and some cannot live so much as one day without some vexation no more than Mithridates could without poison Nay it is a far greater absurdity for one to be willing to disturb himself as long as he lives that he may once give satisfaction to another how closely soever he may be linked to him We must never offend against our selves to comply with him who advises and keeps off at a distance It is therefore a rational and usefull lesson that as often as it is put to thy option to please another or displease thy self thou'lt doe better to let another be discontented than to become so thy self and that without remedy MAXIME LXV The quaint and critical Judgment The judgment is cultivated as well as the wit The excellence of understanding refines the desire and then the pleasure of enjoyment The extent of the capacity is measured by the niceness of the judgment A great capacity stands in need of a great object to give it content as a large stomach requires proportionable food so high minds demand elevated matters The noblest objects are afraid of a delicate judgment perfections that are generally esteemed dare not hope to please it Seeing there is but very little without defect one ought to be very sparing of esteem Judgments are formed in conversation and we make another man's judgment our own by frequenting his company It is then a great happiness to have commerce with persons of an excellent judgment Yet we must not make profession of esteeming nothing at all For that is an extreme folly and an affectation more odious than a depraved palate Some would have God to make another world and other beauties to satisfie their extravagant and whimsical fancies MAXIME LXVI To take good measures before one undertakes Some eye the project more than the event and nevertheless direction is not a sufficient surety to save one from the dishonour that attends an unfortunate issue The Conquerour has no account to give There are but a few who are capable to examine the reasons and circumstances but every one judges by the event And therefore a successfull man never loses his reputation A happy end crowns all though wrong means may have been used for attaining to it For it is art to go contrary to art when otherwise one cannot compass what he intends MAXIME LXVII To prefer plausible Employments Most things depend upon the satisfaction of others Esteem is to perfections what the Zephyres are to flowers that is to say nourishment and life There are some employments generally applauded and others which though they be high yet are not courted The former gain the good will of all because they are managed in sight of all people The other are more majestuous and as such attract more veneration but because they are undiscernable they are the less applauded to Amongst Princes the victorious are the more celebrated and hence it is that the Kings of Aragon have been so famous by their titles of Warriours Conquerours Magnanimous Let a man of merit if he would eternise his memory by general
what there may be also Reason having been undeceived by so many experiences ought to undeceive it In a word it neither becomes ignorance to be bold nor capacity to be bashfull And if Confidence be usefull to them who have but a small stock upon stronger reason it ought to be usefull to those who have a great deal MAXIME CLXXXIII Not to be Head-strong All Fools are Opiniatours and all Opiniatours are Fools The more Erroneous their Opinions are the more they hug them It is civil to yield even in those things wherein we have greatest reason and certainty for then all know who had reason on their side and besides the reason Gallantry is also discovered in the procedure There is more esteem lost by a wilfull resistence then there is got by carrying it by open force For that is not so much a defending of truth as a demonstration of Clownishness There are knotty heads very difficult to be cleft and which always run upon some incurable extremity and when once whimsey joins to their head-strongness they contract an indissoluble league with extravagance Inflexibility ought to be in the will and not in the judgment though there be excepted cases too wherein one is not to suffer himself to be gained nor doubly overcome that 's to say both in the reason and in the execution MAXIME CLXXXIV Not to be Ceremonious The affectation of being so was heretofore censured as a piece of vitious singularity and that in a King too Punctiliousness is tiresome There are whole Nations sick of that Nicety The robe of silliness is wrought with small stitch These Idolatours of the point of honour give a demonstration that their honour is founded on a small matter seeing they fansie every thing may wound it It is good so to carry as to gain Respect but it is ridiculous to pass for a great Master of Compliments It is very true that a Man without Ceremony hath need of a great Merit in place of it Courtesie ought neither to be affected nor slighted He shall never gain the esteem of an able man who sticks too much upon Formalities MAXIME CLXXXV Never to expose ones Credit to the risque of one single interview For if one come not well of it is an irreparable loss To fail once happens often and especially the first time One is not always in the kue whence cometh the Proverb It is not my day One must therefore endeavour that if he hath failed the first time the second may make amends for all or that the first may vouch for the second that succeeded not One ought always to have his recourse to better and to appeal from much to more Affairs depend on certain fortuitous cases and on many too and by consequence good success is a rare good fortune MAXIME CLXXXVI To discern faults though they be in fashion Though Vice be cloathed in cloth of gold yet a good man will still know it It is to no purpose for it to be apparelled in gold it can never so well disguise it self but that it will be perceived to be of iron It would cloak it self with the nobility of its Adherents but it is never stript of its baseness nor the misery of its slavery Vices may very well be exalted but not exalt Some observe that such a Heroe hath had such a Vice but they consider not that it was not that Vice which made him a Heroe The example of great men is so good an Oratour that it persuades one to infamous matters Sometimes flattery hath affected even bodily defects without observing that though they be born with in great men they are insupportable in the mean MAXIME CLXXXVII To act all that is agreeable to ones self and all that 's odious by others The one conciliates good will and the other banishes hatred There is more pleasure in doing good than in receiving it It 's in that that generous Souls place their felicity It seldome happens that one vexes another without being troubled himself either through compassion or retaliation Superiour causes never operate without reaping praise or reward Let the good come immediately from thee and the evil by another Take some body upon whom the blows of discontent may fall that 's to say the hatred and the murmurings The anger of the Rabble is like that of Dogs not knowing the cause of its evil it falls upon the Instrument So that the instrument bears the punishment of the evil whereof it is not the principal cause MAXIME CLXXXVIII To bring always into company something to be praised That 's a means to make one esteemed a man of good discerning and upon whose judgment one may be assured of the goodness of things He that hath known the perfection before will be sure to esteem it afterwards He furnishes matter to conversation and imitation by unfolding plausible knowledges It is a politick way of selling Courtesie to those that are present who have the same perfections Others on the contrary bring always with them something to be blamed and flatter the present by despising the absent This succeeds with them when they are in the company of those who onely look on the outside seeing such observe not the cunning of speaking ill of some in presence of others Some think it a piece of Policy to esteem more the ordinary perfections of to day than the wonders of yesterday A Prudent Man then is to have a care of all these Artifices whereby these blades endeavour to attain to their ends that he may not be discouraged by the exaggeration of the one nor puffed up by the flattery of the others Let him know that both proceed the same way with both parties and onely give them the alternative by adjusting their sentiments to the place where they are MAXIME CLXXXIX To make use of the needs of others If privation come the length of desire it is the most efficacious constraint Philosophers have said that privation was nothing and the Politicians say that it 's all in all And without doubt these have best understood it There are some who to obtain their ends make their way by the desire of others They lay hold of occasion and stir up the desire by the difficulty of obtaining They promise themselves more from the heat of passion than from the lukewarmness of possession Insomuch that the desire enflames the more as the resistence grows greater The true secret of attaining to ones ends is to keep people always in dependence MAXIME CXC To be satisfied in all conditions Even they who are useless have the consolation that they are eternal There is no trouble but hath its satisfaction Luck for the fools and chance for the ugly saith the Proverb To live long there needs no more but to be of little worth The crackt pot seldom breaks it lasts commonly till people be weary of using it It would seem that fortune envies men of importance seeing it joins duration with incapacity in some and
upon the much which he had read and the more which he had seen All that enters by the door of the senses into this Haven of the Soul is unloaded at the Custom-house of the mind where every thing is Registred There it is that things are weighed judged examined and the quintessences of truths drawn Ripe age is designed for contemplation For the more strength the Body loses the more the Soul acquires The balance of the superiour part rises as much as that of the inferiour falls At that time men judge of things in a far different manner Maturity of age seasons Reason and tempers the Passions From seeing one becomes intelligent from contemplating wise The Crown of a Prudent Man is to be a Philosopher by drawing from all things in imitation of the laborious Bee either the honey of pleasant profit or the wax that may serve to make a Torch to undeceive him Philosophy is nothing else but a meditation on death It is good to think on it many times before that one may succeed in it at the last MAXIME CCXXX To open ones Eyes when it is time All who see have not their Eyes open nor do all that look see To reflect too late is not a remedy but a vexation Some begin to see when there is no more to be seen They have undone their houses and squandered away their fortunes before they made any thing of themselves It 's hard to give understanding to him that has no mind to have it and harder still to give the will to him that has no understanding They who are about them play with them as with blind men and they are a diversion for all the company And seeing they are deaf to hear they never open their Eyes to see Nevertheless there are some who foment that insensibility because their well-being consists in procuring others to be nothing Unhappy the Horse whose Master has no Eyes He will hardly ever be fat MAXIME CCXXXI Never to shew things before they be finished All beginnings are defective and the imagination is always prejudiced The remembring to have seen a thing imperfect takes from one the liberty of thinking it pretty when it is finished To have a full view at once of a great object is a hindrance to judge of every part of it but it is also a pleasure that fills the whole imagination A thing is nothing till it be all and when a thing begins to be it is farther from being any thing To see the most exquisite Dishes drest provokes more disgust than Appetite Let every skilfull Master then have a care not to let his works be seen in embrio Let him learn of Nature not to expose them till they be in a condition of appearing MAXIME CCXXXII To understand the Commerce of life a little All must not be Theory let there be some Practice also The wisest are easily deceived For though they understand the extraordinary yet they are ignorant of the ordinary way of living which is the most necessary The contemplation of high things suffers them not to think of those which are common and seeing they are ignorant of what they ought first to know that 's to say of what every one doth they are lookt upon with wonder or esteemed ignorant by the vulgar who consider onely the surface Let a wise man then take care to know as much of the Commerce of life as may serve to keep him from being the fop or laughing stock of others Let him be a man of management For though that be not the highest point of life it is nevertheless the most usefull What is knowledge good for if it be not put into practice To know how to live is now a days the true knowledge MAXIME CCXXXIII To find out the palate of others Else you 'll displease instead of pleasing Some for want of understanding the tempers of people vex when they thought to oblige There are actions that are flattery for some and an offence for others and many times that which was believed to be a good Office hath proved a disservice It hath sometimes cost more to doe a displeasure than to doe a pleasure How can we please other men if we know not their humour Hence it is that some have censured thinking they praised a punishment which they well deserved Others think to divert by their Eloquence and cloy the mindby their babling MAXIME CCXXXIV Never to engage ones Reputation without good assurances of the honour and integrity of others To follow the way of silence is the way to profit but to lose facility will doe the work As to the concerns of Honour it is good always to make one in company so that ones own Reputation be obliged to take care of the Reputation of another One must never be surety but if that sometimes happen let it be done so discreetly that Prudence may yield to Circumspection Let the risque be common and the Cause reciprocal to the end that he who is the Accomplice may not set up for an Evidence MAXIME CCXXXV To know how to ask There is nothing easier for some nor more difficult for others Some there are who cannot refuse and by consequent there 's no need of a hook to draw from them what one would have There are others again whose first word is always no with those there is need of cunning But of whomsoever we have any thing to ask we ought to nick our time as for instance at the conclusion of a good Meal or of some other refreshment that hath put them in a good humour in case the Prudence of him that is addressed to prevent not the Artifice of him who desires Days of rejoycing are the days of favour because the joy within spreads it self abroad We are not to present our selves when we see another denied seeing then the fear of saying no is surmounted When there is melancholly within doors nothing is to be done To oblige before hand is a bill of Exchange when the Correspondent is a civil man MAXIME CCXXXVI To make that a favour which would have been afterwards but a reward That 's the art of greatest Politicians Favours which go before Merits are the touch-stone of Gentlemen An anticipated favour hath two perfections one is the promptitude which obliges the receiver to greater gratitude and the other because the same gift which coming later would be a debt by anticipation is a pure favour A cunning way of transforming obligations since he who would have deserved to be rewarded is obliged to a thankfull acknowledgment I speak of men of honour For as to others it would rather be a curb than a spur to give them an honourary before hand MAXIME CCXXXVII Never to be privy to the secrets of Superiours You may think to share in the Plums but it is onely in the Stones To have been confidents hath been the undoing of many It is with confidents as with the crust of bread that is used instead of a
spoon which runs the risque of being swallowed down with the broth Confidence is not the favour but the impost of the Prince Many break their Looking-glass because it shews them their ugliness A Prince cannot abide to see the man who may have seen him and the witness of an ill act is always ill lookt upon One ought never to be too much obliged to any body and far less to great men Services rendred stand better with them than favours received But above all things the confidences of Friendship are dangerous He that hath entrusted his secret to another hath made himself his slave and in Sovereigns it is a violence that cannot last long For they are impatient to redeem their lost liberty and for succeeding in that they 'll overturn every thing nay and reason it self It 's a Maxime for secrets Neither to hear them nor tell them MAXIME CCXXXVIII To know the piece that we want Several men would be great if they wanted not a somewhat without which they never attain to the height of perfection It 's to be observed in some that they might be worth much if they would supply a little defect To some seriousness is wanting for fault of which great qualities have no lustre in them To others sweetness of carriage a defect which those that frequent their company soon discover and especially in dignified persons In some more briskness is desired and in others more reservedness It were easie to supply all these defects if one minded them For reflexion may turn Custome into a second Nature MAXIME CCXXXIX Not to be too-quaint It 's better to be reserved To know more than is needfull is to blunt the edge of wit seeing subtilties commonly are easily crackt Truth well authorized is surer It is good to have understanding but not a flux at the mouth Too much reasoning looks like jangling A solid judgment that reasons no more than what is fit is much better MAXIME CCXL To know how to play the Ignorant The ablest man sometimes acts this part and there are occasions when the best knowledge is to pretend not to know One must not be ignorant but onely pretend to be so It signifies little to be knowing with Fops and Prudent with Fools We are to speak to every man according to his Character He is not the ignorant who pretends to be such but he that is catch'd by such Not he that counterfeits but he that really is so The onely way to be beloved is to put on the skin of the silliest of Animals MAXIME CCXLI. To suffer raissery but not to use it The one is a kind of Gallantry the other a sort of Engagement He that is off of the hinges when people are rejoycing has much and shews still more of the nature of a Beast Jocoseness is diverting He that can suffer it passes for a man of great stock whereas he that is netled at it provokes others to nettle him the more The best way is to let it pass without making too much on 't The greatest truths have always come from raillery There is nothing that demands more circumspection nor skill Before one begin he ought to know the reach of him with whom he intends to make himself merry MAXIME CCXLII. To pursue ones point There are some onely good for beginning who never bring any thing to an end They invent but they prosecute not so inconstant is their mind They never acquire Reputation because they never proceed to a period These always end by stopping short In others that comes from impatience and it is the fault of the Spaniards as patience is the vertue of the Flemings These see the end of affairs and affairs see the end of those They sweat till they have overcome the difficulty and then rest content that they have weathered it They know not how to make the best of their victory They shew that they can but that they will not But after all it is still a fault either of inability or levity If the design be good why should it not be accomplished if it be bad why begun let a man of parts then kill his game and let him not stop at starting of it MAXIME CCXLIII Not to be a Dove in all things Let the cunning of the Serpent go in course with the simplicity of the Dove There is nothing easier than to deceive a good man He that neverlies easily believes and he that never deceives confides much To be deceived is not always a sign of brutishness For goodness is sometimes the cause of it There are two sorts of people that well knew how to prevent a mischief the one because they have learnt what it is at their own cost and the others because they have learnt it at the expence of others Prudence ought then to be as carefull to caution it self as cunning is to cheat Have a care not to be so good a man that others may take occasion from it of being bad Be a composition of the Dove and Serpent not a Monster but a Prodigy MAXIME CCXLIV To know how to oblige Some so well metamorphose favours that it seems they doe them even when they receive them There are men of such parts that they oblige by asking because they transform their own interest into anothers honour They so adjust matters that one would say others discharged their duty when they grant them what they ask so dextrous they are in inverting the order of obligations by a singular knack of Policy At least they make it doubtfull who it is that obliges They buy the best thing with praises and when they insinuate a desire to have it it is thought an honour to bestow it For they ingage Civility by making that a debt which ought to be the cause of their thankfulness Thus they change the obligation from passive to active being better Politicians than Grammarians That in reality is a great dexterity but it would be a greater still to see into it and to baulk such a foolish bargain by giving them back their Civilities and every one re-taking his own MAXIME CCXLV To reason sometimes quite contrary to the mobile That shews a high mind A great Genius ought not to esteem those who never contradict him For that 's no mark of their affection to him but of their love to themselves Let him have a care of being the fop to flattery by answering it any otherwise than with the contempt which it deserves Let him even take it for an honour to be censured by some people and particularly by those who speak ill of all good men Let it vex him if his actions please all sorts of men seeing that 's a sign that they are not such as they ought to be what is perfect being observed but of a very few MAXIME CCXLVI Never to give satisfaction to those who demand none To give even too much to those who demand it is a blameable action To make an excuse before it be time