Jordan’s Favorite Aphorisms:

38. Quit while you are ahead.
43.  Feel with the few, speak with the many
50. Never lose your self-respect.
59. End well.
64. Avoid Grief
183. Don’t hold onto anything too firmly
192. A peaceable person is a long-lived one.
198. Know when to transplant yourself
222. A cautious hesitation is a sign of prudence
225. Know your major defect.
227. Don’t surrender to first impressions.

Maurer retranslates a 17th-century Jesuit’s aphorisms and reflections on the morality of success. This long-admired work sounds surprisingly relevant today. It also combines brevity and grace of expression with wise advice, which should appeal to those seeking “how-to” spirituality which is universal, practical, and applicable in business.

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.