The oracle

105

Do not be a bore.  The man of one interest and one topic is generally dull.  Brevity is agreeable and more profitable.  It gains in courtesy what it loses in curtness.  Good things, if brief, are doubly good.  And even evil, where there is little of it, is not so bad.  Pithiness is more effective than prolixity; and it is a generally accepted truth that a man 'full blown,' not so much in his physical make-up as, formally, in his discourse, is rarely sensible.  There are some men who are more of a nuisance than an adornment to the world, worthless fellows whom every one avoids.  A discreet man avoids being a nuisance, least of all to important people who live very busy lives, and it is more disastrous to annoy one of these than all the rest of the world put together.  Well said is quickly said.

106

Do not give yourself airs in your position.  It is more offensive to show off about your rank than about your personal qualities.  It is hateful to pose as a 'somebody'; to be envied is surely enough.  The more you seek esteem the less of it you will get.  It depends upon the respect of others, so that it cannot be won by force, but must rather be deserved and awaited from others.  High positions demand a degree of authority proportionate to their functions, without which the latter cannot be worthily discharged.  Maintain, then, the authority to which you are entitled in order to fulfil your most important duties; protect it, by all means, but do not press it too far.  All officious people show themselves to be unworthy of their office and that it is too big for them.  If you must be appreciated, let it be because of the excellence of your qualities rather than for adventitious reasons; even a king should be honoured rather for his personal qualities than for his extrinsic sovereignty.

Baltasar Gracian, The Oracle: A Manual of the Art of Discretion