The Art of Worldly Wisdom

By: Balthasar Gracian

Narrated by: Jeffrey Ito

Like Sun Tzu's Art of War, Machiavelli's Prince, and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, Gracian's Art of Worldly Wisdom is one of those rare books that serve as enlightening guides and companions for life.

Part life-coach, part Machiavelli, part Yoda, Balthasar Gracian [1601-1658], a Jesuit priest, wrote this collection of pithy sayings four centuries ago. Gracian speaks to the twenty-first century as well as the seventeenth. It's only a matter of time before someone markets Gracian's life advice to busy executives, like Sun Tzu or the Book of Five Rings (if it hasn't been already). In the meantime, Gracian can be our little secret.

Jacobs, the translator, is also the author of many books of folklore, etexts of which can also be found at this site. For instance, Celtic Fairy Tales, English Fairy Tales, and Indian Fairy Tales.

©2019 Baltasar Gracián (P)2025 Baltasar Gracián

Find another narrator

The narration is quite poor. The voice frequency and intensity for each sentence or part of a sentence is the same throughout. It seems like commas and periods are treated exactly the same making it difficult to know where an author's thought ends and a new one begins. The narration seems mechanical and uningaged in what is being read. This is one of the worst narrations I've ever come accross.

Timeless wisdom.

Don’t read new books. Read old wisdom. Technology hasn’t changed humanity and wisdom is still wisdom. There is nothing better than distilling knowledge. This book does just that.