Baltasar Gracián y Morales (January 8, 1601 – December 6, 1658)

A 17th-century Spanish philosopher, he was highly regarded by the public and spoke about wisdom to preserve happiness with realistic and straightforward sharp words. Even after more than 400 years, his sayings are still recognized worldwide.

He was born in Belmonte, Calatayud, Zaragoza, Spain in 1601. His father, Francisco Gracián Garcés, was a doctor, and he became the eldest son because his older brothers died early. He joined the Society of Jesus at the age of 18 and studied two courses of philosophy until he was 21. After completing four courses of theology at the University of Zaragoza, he was ordained as a priest at the age of 25 (1627). He taught students as a humanities professor until he was 28 (1630) and completed a three-year training period at the monastery in Valencia.

After achieving great success as a preacher at the age of 40, he published *The Art of Ingenuity* (Arte de ingenio, 1642), which further expanded and deepened the book, *The Oracle Manual and the Art of Prudence* (Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia, literally “The Manual of Oracles and the Art of Prudence”). He was a Jesuit priest, but there are few religious references in the writing, and he does not aim for Christian moral concepts. The author's fundamental life goal was personal maturity, rather than success and fame. And he did not miss out on practical success strategies while maintaining the fundamentals of humanity. The author warned that many traps and evil acts should be known in advance so that they could be avoided and that he wanted to teach how to protect oneself from foolish people or such situations.

Around the 17th century when the author lived, Spain was gradually declining after reigning as the ruler of Europe for the past 150 years. The economic crisis came with the involvement in the Thirty Years' War, and it gradually lost its strength due to the rebellions of Portugal and Catalonia, the failure of the war, etc. However, ironically, it was a golden age culturally. The characteristics of disillusionment and futility with the material and secular, religious hope, and the omnipresence of death were apparent throughout the era under the name of Baroque culture.

In his later years, Baltasar Gracián was disciplined and dismissed from his professorship for publishing books without the permission of the church and suffered from imprisonment and surveillance. He suffered from continuous punishment and disadvantages, and died at the age of 57 in 1658.

Do not show your sore finger.

The moment you show your sore finger, everyone will stab it.
Break the habit of complaining.
Evil always targets the weak and only seeks out the painful.
And it will repeat attempts to stab that sore area thousands and tens of thousands of times.
Therefore, a prudent person never easily shows his or her wounds and never reveals personal misfortune everywhere.
Sometimes even fate enjoys stabbing your most painful wounds.
So don't show your pain or your happiness easily.