Wise Too Late

There are certain books I wish I had read when I was young, restless and confused. I put myself under a great deal of stress over things that didn’t count much while ignoring major things which got me into a situation now, regretting all that I couldn’t or wasn’t able to do. If only I had someone like Baltasar Gracian as a mentor or even his book,’ The Art of Worldly Wisdom’ back then I would have avoided a lot of heartache.

I try to read one aphorism every day from his book that contains three hundred of them, all of them full of the deepest wisdom. Today’s aphorism I read was something that struck a chord in me. Here it is:

A peacable person is a long lived one. To live, let live. Peacable people not only live, they reign. Listen and see, but keep quiet. A day without contention means a night of rest. To live much and to take pleasure in life is to live twice: the fruit of peace. You can have everything if you care little for what matters nothing. Nothing is sillier than to take everything seriously. It is just as foolish to let something wound you when it doesn’t concern you as not to be wounded when it does.

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to understand and realize such truths.