Quotes from Francesco Guicciardini

Conspiracies, since they cannot be engaged in without the fellowship of others, are for that reason most perilous; for as most men are either fools or knaves, we run excessive risk in making such folk our companions.

...be more guided by hope than fear.

If you attempt certain things at the right time, they are easy to accomplish - in fact, they almost get done by themselves. If you undertake them before the time is right, not only will they fail, but they will often become impossible to accomplish even when the time would have been right.

It is a great matter to be in authority over others; for authority, if it be rightly used, will make you feared beyond your actual resources.

Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them.

When wicked or ignorant men govern, it is not surprising that virtue and goodness are not esteemed. For the former hate them, and the latter do not know them.

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.

It is our nature to be more moved by hope than fear.

But it is dangerous to follow Examples, if they do not correspond in the most material Circumstances with the present State of our Affairs; are not conducted with equal Judgment, or attended with the like Prospect of Success.

Erra chi dice che le lettere guastano e' cervelli degli uomini, perché è forse vero in chi l'ha debole; ma dove lo truovano buono, lo fanno perfetto; perché el buono naturale congiunto col buono accidentale fa nobilissima composizione.

Né e pazzi né e savi non possono finalmente resistere a quello che ha a essere: però io non lessi mai cosa che mi paressi meglio detta che quella che disse colui: Ducunt volentes fata, nolentes trahunt.

of Ludovico Szforza] He was become immoderately vain, and little considering the Inconstancy of Human Affairs, was wont to say 'He was the Son of Fortune and could manage his Mother as he pleased.

Guardate quanto gli uomini ingannano loro medesimi: ciascuno reputa brutti e peccati che lui non fa, leggieri quegli che fa; e con questa regola si misura spesso el male e el bene, più che col considerare e gradi e qualità delle cose.

Come in una commedia o tragedia non è piú in prezzo chi porta la persona del padrone e del re, che chi porta quella di uno servo, ma solamente si attende chi la porta meglio.

Ferdinando [King of Naples] resolv'd, in good Earnest, to try how to compromise the Affair of the Castles; being persuaded, that that when this Obstacle was remov'd, Matters would easily return into the fame peaceable Channel. But by removing the Causes, the Effects that sprung from them are not always remov'd. For, as it frequently happens, that Resolutions taken out of Fear seldom appear sufficient to the Fearful.

To relinquish a present good through apprehension of a future evil is in most instances unwise ... from a fear which may afterwards turn out groundless you lost the good that lay within your grasp.

Pay no heed to those who tell you that they have relinquished place and power of their own accord, and from their love of quiet. For almost always they have been brought to this retirement by their insufficiency and against their will.

The affairs of this world are so shifting and depend on so many accidents, that it is hard to form any judgment concerning the future; nay, we see from experience that the forecasts even of the wise almost always turn out false.

Like other men, I have sought honours and preferment, and often have obtained them beyond my wishes or hopes. Yet never have I found in them that content which I had figured beforehand in my mind. A strong reason, if we well consider it, why we should disencumber ourselves of vain desires.

Waste no time with revolutions that do not remove the causes of your complaints but simply change the faces of those in charge.

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.

There is nothing so fleeting as the memory of benefits received.

Ambition is not in itself an evil; nor is he to be condemned whose spirit prompts him to seek fame by worthy and honourable ways.

Let no one trust so entirely to natural prudence as to persuade himself that it will suffice to guide him without help from experience.