Monday, April 07, 2003

The Art of Worldly Wisdom -- suggests, in chapter 151, that one...

"Think ahead: today for tomorrow -- even many days ahead. The best providence is to have hours of it. To those forewarned, there are no strokes of bad luck; no tight spots for those who are prepared. Don't save your reason for difficult situations; use it to anticipate them. Difficult points require mature rethinking. The pillow is a tongueless sibyl, and it is better to sleep on something than to lie awake when things are on top of you. Some act, and think later: this is to look for excuses rather than consequences. Others think neither before nor after. Your whole life should be a matter of thinking out your destination. Rethinking and foresight are a good way to live in advance.
   -- Balthasar Gracian (1601-1658); translation, Christopher Maurer

Gracian was a Spanish moralist, whose little book of aphorisms sits comfortably on my bookshelf along with Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, Tsunetomo's Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings, and Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook, all of which are frequently browsed. (And to think that Hal said today that I sometimes link to strange things. Where'd he get that from?)

posted by Frank - Permanent Link - |

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