Their intrinsic value is not sufficient; for all do not bite at the
kernel or look into the interior.
Most go with the crowd, and go because
they see others go. It is a great stroke of art to bring
things into
repute; at times by praising them, for praise arouses desire at times by
giving them a
striking name, which is very useful for putting things at
a premium, provided it is done without
affectation. Again, it is
generally an inducement to profess to supply only connoisseurs, for all
think themselves such, and if not, the sense of want arouses the desire.
Never call things easy or
common: that makes them depreciated rather
than made accessible. All rush after the unusual,
which is more
appetising both for the taste and for the intelligence.
When I read Siddhartha, at the bottom of each page there was an offer for subscription to daily updates - one for a daily sonnet by Shakespeare, and one for a daily aphorism from Balthasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom (Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia). I subscribed to both.
Today's update from the Balthasar newsletter I found particularly interesting because it still applies to marketing and consumerism today - it's a gem of wisdom we all perceive in our daily lives, but perhaps couldn't have put quite as concisely and adroitly as the Jesuit priest did. I only recently subscribed to this newsletter, but I was already aware that this work is considered as relevant today as it was in the seventeeth century. In the words of the website, "While Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince are generally concerned with affairs of the state, The Art of Worldly Wisdom ranks among the most notable and popular works of philosophical advice. Gracian influenced other such timeless and notable authors as Nietzsche, La Rochefoucauld, Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire, and Schopenhauer, who translated his works to German."
You can read all of the aphorisms here, or subscribe to a daily aphorism here!
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