The 17th-century Spanish Jesuit Baltasar Gracián’s The Art of Worldly Wisdom, a collection of 300 maxims, distills the art of living wisely in a world governed by vanity, illusion, and self-interest. Far from being a call to retreat, it offers a strategy for engagement – practical counsel for those determined to remain in the world without being shaped by its worst tendencies. Father Gracián viewed human nature with a lucidity that was not only theological but also brutally realistic. The book’s admirers have included philosophers and businessmen, among whom is the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
