Baltasar Quotes

#1. Admiration is the basis of ignorance.

Baltasar Gracian

#2. The thing about Iceland is that we are trapped there anyway, all of us. We have been trapped there for thousands of years.

Baltasar Kormakur

#3. In the case of 'The Deep,' because of the people involved, the talent and the real lives of people who died, I wanted to make the most honest film I could. And sometimes that's the best way to go: Just make the best version of the film you can.

Baltasar Kormakur

#4. Cultivate those who can teach you.

Baltasar Gracian

#5. Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.

Baltasar Gracian

#6. There is no beauty unaided, no excellence that does not sink to the barbarous, unless saved by art.

Baltasar Gracian

#7. Put yourself on view. This brings your talents to light.

Baltasar Gracian

#8. Know or listen to those who know.

Baltasar Gracian

#9. Not all were born into a period worthy of them.

Baltasar Gracian

#10. For the advice in a joke is sometimes more useful than the most serious teaching.

Baltasar Gracian

#11. He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.

Baltasar Gracian

#12. Share weight and woe, for misfortune falls with double force on him that stands alone.

Baltasar Gracian

#13. Many would be wise if they did not think themselves wise.

Baltasar Gracian

#14. I used to sail a lot in all kinds of weather, competing on small sailboats in the ocean. And I travel a lot in Iceland on horses every summer, through the wild areas where there's no inhabitants and there are volcanoes.

Baltasar Kormakur

#15. It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward

Baltasar Gracian

#16. There are certain inessential activities-moths of precious time-and it is worse to busy yourself with the trivial than to do nothing.

Baltasar Gracian

#17. An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness.

Baltasar Gracian

#18. The more pains you take with a thing, the more should you conceal them, so that it may appear to arise spontaneously from your own natural character.

Baltasar Gracian

#19. Sometimes those big bloated superhero movies take themselves too seriously compared to the material they were based on. Am I going to listen to psychoanalysis from someone with a mask?

Baltasar Kormakur

#20. Self knowledge is the beginning of self improvement.

Baltasar Gracian

#21. Possession hinders enjoyment. It merely gives you the right to keep things for or from others, and thus you gain more enemies than friends.

Baltasar Gracian

#22. Words are feminine; deeds are masculine.

Baltasar Gracian

#23. You should aim to be independent of any one vote, of any one fashion, of any one century.

Baltasar Gracian

#24. When everyone covets something, they are easily annoyed by it.

Baltasar Gracian

#25. Cautious silence is the refuge of good sense

Baltasar Gracian

#26. Tis by no means the least of life's rules: To let things alone.

Baltasar Gracian

#27. Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

Baltasar Gracian

#28. It requires as much caution to tell the truth as to conceal it.

Baltasar Gracian

#29. A gilded No is more satisfactory than a dry Yes.

Baltasar Gracian

#30. Many get the repute of being witty but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has its little hour, seriousness should have all the rest.

Baltasar Gracian

#31. Be extraordinary in your excellence, if you like, but be ordinary in your display of it.

Baltasar Gracian

#32. Keep expectation alive. Keep stirring it up. Let much promise more, and great deeds herald greater.

Baltasar Gracian

#33. A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.

Baltasar Gracian

#34. One who was adored by all in prosperity is abhorred by all in adversity.

Baltasar Gracian

#35. The path to greatness is along with others.

Baltasar Gracian

#36. Be first the master of yourself

Baltasar Gracian

#37. There must be something good in a thing that pleases so many; even if it cannot be explained, it is certainly enjoyed.

Baltasar Gracian

#38. You can cultivate taste, as you can the intellect. Full understanding whets the appetite and desire, and, later, sharpens the enjoyment of possession.

Baltasar Gracian

#39. Have friends. 'Tis a second existence.

Baltasar Gracian

#40. Censure is like the lightning which strikes the highest mountains.

Baltasar Gracian

#41. Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

Baltasar Gracian

#42. Don't lie, but don't tell the whole truth.

Baltasar Gracian

#43. I don't see Hollywood as the big enemy, because this is where the money is, and not all of the companies are doing studio movies. I'm not tempted to sell out. If I'm going to become well known, I want it to be for something I'm proud of.

Baltasar Kormakur

#44. A man is judged by his friends, for the wise and the foolish have never agreed.

Baltasar Gracian

#45. The greatest fool is he who thinks he is not one and all others are.

Baltasar Gracian

#46. I want to work with directors who can tell intimate stories in a way that feels universal and with a big enough scope and depth to travel outside of Iceland.

Baltasar Kormakur

#47. True friendshipmultiplies the good in life and divides its evils. strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island ... to find one real friend in a lifetime is a good fortune;to keep him is a blessing

Baltasar Gracian

#48. We live by information, not by sight.

Baltasar Gracian

#49. Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.

Baltasar Gracian

#50. Man's life is militia against man's malice.

Baltasar Gracian

#51. I started as an actor, then became a theater director. I loved acting but didn't feel as confident as I needed to be, so I started directing theater; then I played in some movies, and then I felt the need to do my own stuff.

Baltasar Kormakur

#52. Most do violence to their natural aptitude, and thus attain superiority in nothing.

Baltasar Gracian

#53. If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear, an unhappy state of happiness.

Baltasar Gracian

#54. Everyone could have been pre-eminent at something, if they had been aware of their best quality.

Baltasar Gracian

#55. Fools rush in through the door; for folly is always bold.

Baltasar Gracian

#56. It is a great deed to leave nothing for tomorrow.

Baltasar Gracian

#57. Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.

Baltasar Gracian

#58. I think my sweet spot is to make personal films on not-too-big budgets and also make other people's films, bringing productions to Iceland, upping the business here.

Baltasar Kormakur

#59. Few are the friends of a mans self, most those of his circumstances.

Baltasar Gracian

#60. Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

Baltasar Gracian

#61. Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.

Baltasar Gracian

#62. Sometimes it proves the highest understanding not to understand.

Baltasar Gracian

#63. A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

Baltasar Gracian

#64. Do not be held a cheat, even though it is impossible to
live today without being one. Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what
looks like cunning.

Baltasar Gracian

#65. The worthless usually live long.

Baltasar Gracian

#66. Avoid outshining the master. All superiority is odious, but the superiority of a subject over his prince is not only stupid, it is fatal. This is a lesson that the stars in the sky teach us - they may be related to the sun, and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company.

Baltasar Gracian

#67. There is no desert like being friendless.

Baltasar Gracian

#68. Know how to choose. Most things in life depend on it. You need good taste and an upright judgement; intelligence and application are not enough. There is no perfection without discernment and selection.

Baltasar Gracian

#69. If to talk to oneself when alone is folly, it must be doubly unwise to listen to oneself in the presence of others.

Baltasar Gracian

#70. It's important for cinema to keep on evolving: for people, and not only teenagers, to be able to go to a movie that has huge epic scope but has an intellectual and real story to tell.

Baltasar Kormakur

#71. One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.

Baltasar Gracian

#72. Vikings were pretty brutal, but also very educated people. They were salesmen, businessmen who started raiding when business wasn't good. That's why they had such great boats.

Baltasar Kormakur

#73. No' and 'Yes' are words quickly said, but they need a great amount of thought before you utter them.

Baltasar Gracian

#74. Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.

Baltasar Gracian

#75. Nature often lets us down when we most need her; let us turn to art.

Baltasar Gracian

#76. I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

Baltasar Gracian

#77. Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it.

Baltasar Gracian

#78. Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.

Baltasar Gracian

#79. Friendship multiplies blessings and ... soothes the soul.

Baltasar Gracian

#80. Diligence removes impossibilities.

Baltasar Gracian

#81. I am a big fan of movies that don't take themselves too seriously. You know you won't change the world, but have fun. Movies like 'Butch Cassidy' I enjoyed tremendously, but it didn't alter my opinion of the world.

Baltasar Kormakur

#82. There are friendships merely for pleasure, some for the exchange of ideas. Rarest are those friends of one's inmost self.

Baltasar Gracian

#83. God Himself chasteneth not with a rod but with time.

Baltasar Gracian

#84. He who puts off nothing till tomorrow has done a great deal.

Baltasar Gracian

#85. It is therefore an excellent device to acquire knowledge from everybody.

Baltasar Gracian

#86. Every fool stands convinced; and everyone convinced is a fool. The faultier a person's judgement the firmer their convictions.

Baltasar Gracian

#87. Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.

Baltasar Gracian

#88. There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled.

Baltasar Gracian

#89. Respect yourself is you would have others respect you.

Baltasar Gracian

#90. Knowledge and courage take turns at greatness.

Baltasar Gracian

#91. Knowledge without courage is sterile.

Baltasar Gracian

#92. Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would.

Baltasar Gracian

#93. The happy are an exception who enjoy innocently their simple happiness.

Baltasar Gracian

#94. The best remedy for disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down.

Baltasar Gracian

#95. It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.

Baltasar Gracian

#96. Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.

Baltasar Gracian

#97. Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.

Baltasar Gracian

#98. A wise prince must never take things easy in times of peace.

Baltasar Gracian

#99. Friends provoked become the bitterest of enemies.

Baltasar Gracian

#100. Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one.

Baltasar Gracian