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The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Baltasar Gracian

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker prefers shared folly to solitary correctness, saying it is better to be foolish alongside everyone else than to be wise and alone. The line has a wry, somewhat cynical edge, admitting that belonging can matter more than being correct, and that isolation is its own kind of punishment.

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