Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.
[Más vale ser engañado en el precio que en la mercadería.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 157 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:It is better to be deceived in the Price, than in the Commodity.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]Far better to be cheated in the price, than in the goods.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]