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 versa. You ought therefore to think of the finish, and attach more importance to a happy exit than to applause on entrance. It is the common lot of the unlucky to have a very fortunate beginning 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 anyone to the door, and as warmly as she may welcome the com in, she is cold to the parting guest.

THE ART OF WORLDLY WISDOM BY BALTHASAR GRACIAN
TRANSLATED BY JOSEPH JACOBS 1892