# Newsletters > Balthasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom >  Aphorism #59 Finish off well.

## Admin

Aphorism #59 Finish off well.

In the house of Fortune, if you enter by the gate of pleasure you must leave by that of sorrow and vice versÃ¢. You ought therefore to think of the finish, and attach more importance to a graceful exit than to applause on entrance. ÂTis the common lot of the unlucky to have a very fortunate outset and a very tragic end. The important point is not the vulgar applause on entrance--that comes to nearly all--but the general feeling at exit. Few in life are felt to deserve an encore. Fortune rarely accompanies any one to thedoor: warmly as she may welcome the coming, she speeds but coldly the parting guest. 


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