A Pocket Mirror for Heroes Paperback – 30 Jan. 2001

This book is a gift to us English-speakers who cannot read Gracian in the original. This small volume takes his Oracle to the next level. No longer constrained by the style of that book Gracian writes with passion and eloquence about what it takes to survive and to win in a dangerous and unpredictable world.Nothing in life is achievable without a fight, laments Gracian. For those who intend to hold on for the long term here are some principles that will help us to 'militate against malice' and achieve our aims despite the fickleness of both friends and fortune.Gracian teaches us how to blindside envy, attract the attention of the discerning, choose a career, set our priorities, develop safeguards in our contacts with people, keep our heads when all others lose theirs. He is the ultimate worldly philosopher, the kind of mentor or friend most of us would love to have: practical, refined, spirited, aware of both the higher and lower spheres of human nature, and passionate about teaching us how to have a fighting chance.Despite his hard-bitten realism Gracian is never a pessimist or an a-moralist. He believes that the good and the noble deserves to triumph and holds that virtue is a prerequisite for greatness. He is not the right mentor for the unscrupulous, or for the dog who would eat dog.Thanks and congratulations go to Christopher Maurer for his masterful and sensitive translation of this Spanish classic. He truly allows Gracian's style and erudition to come forth.Buy this book and carry it with you alongside the Oracle!

The perfect compliment to A Pocket Oracle - Also Gracian, also translated by Maurer.Get them both and fill yourself with timeless wisdom.

.A very small book of three-hundred maxims, covering practically all of the wisdom one needs to go through life. Each maxim covering less than a page, often only half or a quarter.Originally written in Spanish in 1637 by a Jesuit scholar, it has been translated into eight European languages. Among the best of which is the one by another scholar and literary critic named Joseph Jacobs, who also collected folklores (including English and Celtic fairy tales, as well as the fables of Aesop); this, too, is a good one, albeit not preserving as much of Gracian's epigrammatic style, including his word plays and puns.In contrast to Machiavelli, who put CRUDE REALITY into words, Gracian is more on the side of a little IDEALISM and NOBILITY in living one's life. Which is not to say he aims for ASPHYXIA; much is given to living a happy life, part of which is giving oneself a break and a breather.[NEGATIVE] A few maxims are of limited use for its obviousness--in essence, "sometimes go left, sometimes go right". (Uhm, aren't those ALL of the very choices from which one must pick? And doesn't EVERYBODY ALREADY know that.) The wisdom of everything else in the book in nonetheless undiminished.The brevity (not concise; some maxims are translated rather long-windedly) of the maxims does not mean that they are to be read as many in one stretch. After all, the benefits only start when wisdom is absorbed and lived out. Best to read through a dozen at most at a time; re-read and re-read, giving each time to sink into the heart and mind; only then move onto the next dozen or two.Quite ENLIGHTENING. Worth keeping one copy of. Or perhaps two--a hardcover edition, too, in one's library, work desk, coffee table or reception room . . . for anyone who might walk in or anyone being made to wait, and who could use the time literally wisely..