Baltasar Gracian Quotes

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.

The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.

Indeed he knows not how to know who knows not also how to un-know.

In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.

We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem. We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.

I begin to see an object when I cease to understand it.

Common sense is so very simple but very difficult to grasp.

Understanding that rests in what it does not understand is the finest.

The more I see, the less I know.

I know nothing, because I know too much, and understand not nearly enough and never will.

One who ”knows,” knows there is no need to discourse; knowing is enough

Knowledge is the barrier to knowing. When knowledge is dropped, knowing flowers.

Those who know it do not speak about it. Those who speak about it do not know it.

Intelligence is characterized by a natural incomprehension of life.

It's only when I say that everything is incomprehensible that I come as close as possible to understanding the only thing it is given to us to understand.

I like to study a lot of math, physics, and the Bible, too. For me, they all show that there's a lot more to things than we see.

Intelligence is not a science.

Man knows much more than he understands.

All thing I thought I knew; but now confess, the more I know I know, I know the less.

Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.

Our reason arises, at the very least, from this twofold lesson of sensuous revelations and human testimonies.