Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today.
• Maxim 288 (p. 162)
• Maxim 288 (p. 162)
“
No vaya por generalidades en el vivir, si ya no fuere en favor de la virtud, ni intime leyes precisas al querer, que avrá de bever mañana del agua que desprecia hoi.
— Baltasar Gracián
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "No vaya por generalidades en el vivir, si ya no fuere en favor de la virtud, ni intime leyes precisas al querer, que avrá de bever mañana del agua que desprecia hoi." in the context of "Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today.
• Maxim 288 (p. 162)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Baltasar Gracián" (Quotes, The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647): Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia, the title of which has been translated, as The Oracle, a Manual of the Art of Discretion and The Art of Worldly Wisdom, was a collection of maxims. Page numbers provided here are from The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle (1992), translated by Christopher Maurer,
See also Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Baltasar Gracián
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658), most widely known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit author regarded as one of the most accomplished prose stylists of the Baroque era.
About Baltasar Gracián
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (8 January 1601 – 6 December 1658), most widely known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit author regarded as one of the most accomplished prose stylists of the Baroque era.
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