Do not always pose and be a bore: this is a maxim for gallant bearing. You may yield a touch of dignity to gain the general goodwill... He who makes a fool of himself in public will not be regarded as discreet in private life. One may lose more on a day of pleasure than has been gained during a whole life of labour. Still you must not always keep away: to be singular is to condemn all others.
Baltasar Gracián, 1647 (tr. Joseph Jacobs, 1892)
The living counsel here is a fine balance worth keeping: join in, take part in the shared life around you, do not hold yourself always apart as a bore or a prude, because refusing every common pleasure is its own way of condemning everyone who partakes. But keep it within bounds, because a single undignified day in public can cost more than a whole career of good work, and the person who plays the fool openly is not trusted as discreet in private. Participate, but do not lose your dignity in the participating. What this entry leaves in 1647 is the closing passage, which drops into the gendered claims of its century about what becomes a man and a woman. That tail carries nothing the modern reader needs, so we keep the balance and leave the rest.