“A man of substance is not content merely to be good; he must also appear so.”Baltasar Gracián · Oracolul manual · 1647 · aforismul 6
Merit nobody sees gets paid as if it didn't exist: do good, but make it visible.
Gracián is not preaching hypocrisy but social realism: merit that stays hidden is as good as absent to those meant to reward it. The mechanism is reputation — people have no access to our interior, only to outward signs. A competent employee who cannot present results gets passed over for a weaker but more visible colleague. The advice is to do good and make it observable, without seeming to boast about it.
Why it matters Relevant in any professional setting today: good work left unannounced is often mistaken for no work at all.