Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.
Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.
You have to appear wiser and more prudent than is required by the people you are dealing with if you want to give a high opinion of yourself.
Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would.
Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.
Take care to make things turn out well. Some people scruple more over pointing things in the right direction than over successfully reaching their goals. The disgrace of failure outweighs the diligence they showed. A winner is never asked for explanations.
Know how to ask. There is nothing more difficult for some people, nor for others, easier.
Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense, and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others.
Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.
Many people who pretend to be very busy have the least to do.