Francesco Guicciardini Quotes

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

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Friendship, Real Friends, Losing Friends

  Francesco Guicciardini (1890). “Counsels and Reflections of Francesco Guicciardini”

  91 Copy quote

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

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Change, Waste, Faces

  Francesco Guicciardini (1965). “Maxims and Reflections (Ricordi)”, p.54, University of Pennsylvania Press

  24 Copy quote

• Even though many people prove to be ungrateful, do not let that stop you from benefiting others-for not only is beneficence in itself a noble and almost divine quality, it may also happen that while you practice it, you will encounter someone so grateful that he will make up for all the others' ingratitude.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Grateful, Practice, People

  56 Copy quote

• How much luckier than all the rest of mankind are the astrologers who, if they tell one truth among a hundred lies, obtain so much credit that even their lies are believed.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Lying, Credit, Superstitions

  Francesco Guicciardini (1949). “Ricordi”

  5 Copy quote

• By numberless examples it will evidently appear that human affairs are as subject to change and fluctuation as the waters of the sea agitated by the winds.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Wind, Sea, Water

  15 Copy quote

• We fight to great disadvantage when we fight with those who have nothing to lose.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Fighting, Nothing To Lose, Disadvantages

  "Storia d' Italia". Book by Francesco Guicciardini, 1561.

  27 Copy quote

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

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Life, Hard Work, Generosity

  22 Copy quote

• Keep your eye fixed not so much on what they [people] ought in reason to do, as on what they are likely to do based on their disposition and habits.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Eye, People, Reason

  16 Copy quote

• 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.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Running, Men, Risk

  11 Copy quote

• 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.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Wise, World, Shifting

  Francesco Guicciardini (1890). “Counsels and Reflections of Francesco Guicciardini”

  7 Copy quote

• Affairs that depend on many rarely succeed.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Succeed, Planning, Affair

  10 Copy quote

• 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.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Done, Facts, Impossible

  Francesco Guicciardini (1965). “Maxims and Reflections (Ricordi)”, p.61, University of Pennsylvania Press

  10 Copy quote

• ...be more guided by hope than fear.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Anticipation

  10 Copy quote

• Be careful how you do one man a pleasure which must needs occasion equal displeasure in another. For he who is thus slighted will not forget, but will think the offence to himself the greater in that another profits by it; while he who receives the pleasure will either not remember it, or will consider the favour done him less than it really was.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Men, Thinking, Needs

  Francesco Guicciardini (1890). “Counsels and Reflections of Francesco Guicciardini”

  66 Copy quote

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

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Memories, Fleeting, Benefits

  Francesco Guicciardini (1890). “Counsels and Reflections of Francesco Guicciardini”

  12 Copy quote

• To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man's heart.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Heart, Men, Giving

  Francesco Guicciardini (1949). “Ricordi”

  11 Copy quote

• 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.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Ambition, Evil, Way

  Francesco Guicciardini (1949). “Ricordi”

  10 Copy quote

• 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 them separately and all of them together are utterly abhorrent in men making profession of a life dedicated to God.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Ambition, Men, Together

  Francesco Guicciardini (1949). “Ricordi”

  4 Copy quote

• Ambassadors are the eye and ear of states.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Eye, Ears, Ambassadors

  Francesco Guicciardini (1755). “The history of Italy: from the year 1490 to 1532”, p.40

  8 Copy quote

• He who imitates what is evil always goes beyond the example that is set; on the contrary, he who imitates what is good always falls short.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Fall, Evil, Example

  "Storia d' Italia". Book by Francesco Guicciardini, 1561.

  5 Copy quote

• 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.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Retirement, Pay, Quiet

  Francesco Guicciardini (1890). “Counsels and Reflections of Francesco Guicciardini”

  9 Copy quote

• As it is our nature to be more moved by hope than fear, the example of one we see abundantly rewarded cheers and encourages us far more than the sight of many who have not been well treated disquiets us.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Cheer, Sight, Role Models

  Francesco Guicciardini (1949). “Ricordi”

  7 Copy quote

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

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Helping, Natural, Guides

  Francesco Guicciardini (1890). “Counsels and Reflections of Francesco Guicciardini”

  7 Copy quote

• There is no evil in human affairs that has not some good mingled with it.
  [It., Non e male alcuno nelle cose umane che non abbia congiunto seco qualche bene.]

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Evil, Males, Affair

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Francesco Guicciardini

  Future, Evil, May

  7 Copy quote

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