There are books that have the power to change the world. The Art of Prudence is one of them.

In it, even four centuries later, we find lessons on crucial matters of our daily lives, from how to choose friends who aren't complete idiots to how to survive in the human jungle of work without being devoured by incompetent bosses.

Politics, social skills, discretion, diplomacy, how to pretend, how to keep quiet, how to know when to leave on time... Prudence is a well-chosen blend of discretion, calculation, and cunning, and cultivating its art improves our lives from the most trivial to the most basic.

In these three hundred aphorisms, Baltasar Gracián condenses all his wisdom: its pages teach us how to live lucidly in a world where the naive are devoured.