The remarkable best-seller -- a long-lost, 300-year-old book of wisdom on how to live successfully yet responsibly in a society governed by self-interest -- as acute as Machiavelli yet as humanistic and scrupulously moral as Marcus Aurelius. This perennially popular book of advice on how to achieve personal and professional success is valued for its timeless insights on how to make ones way in the world. Written in the seventeenth century by a Spanish Jesuit scholar, these teachings are strikingly modern in tone and address universal concerns such as friendship, morality, managing emotions, and effective leadership. The Art of Worldly Wisdom is for anyone seeking to combine ethical behavior with worldly success. This edition of The Art of Worldly Wisdom includes an informative introduction by Willis Barnstone, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. Barnstone, a noted translator, critic, and poet, explores Gracians background and places him within his historical and literary context.