Francesco Guicciardini

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

“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...”

“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...”

“One who imitates what is bad always goes beyond his model; while one who imitates what is good always comes up short of it.”

“I know no man who feels deeper disgust than I do at the ambition, avarice, and profligacy of the priesthood, as well because every one of these vices is odious in itself, as because each of...”

“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 b...”

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