Gracian as Writing Prompt

In college I first read Baltasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle, translated by Christopher Mauerer.

Gracian was a Spanish Jesuit (b. 1601, d. 1658) priest who wrote many works including this one. The Pocket Oracle is comprised of 300 aphorisms with brief commentary on each.

Per the introduction (p. v), "Like all aphorisms, these are meant to be read slowly, a few at a time."

I thought it would be a good exercise to revisit this book and use some, not all, of these aphorisms as writing prompts.

I'll title each: Gracian: # title.

You can read what I and many others think of this book on Goodreads.