There Are Occasions

Know how to make use of stupidity: The wisest man plays this card at times.

There are occasions when the highest wisdom consists in appearing not to know - you must not be ignorant but capable of playing it.

It is not much good being wise among fools and sane lunatics. He who poses as a fool is not a fool.

The best way to be well received by all is to clothe yourself in the skin of the dumbest of brutes.

Baltasar Gracian, 1601 -1658

Authority

Know how to play the card of contempt. It is the most politic kind of revenge.

For there are many of whom we should have known nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them.

There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness.

Baltasar Gracian, 1601 - 1658