Francesco Guicciardini Quotes

Experience Has Always Shown, And Reason Also, That Affairs Which Depend On Many Seldom Succeed.

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.

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.

He Is Less Likely To Be Mistaken Who Looks Forward To A Change In The Affairs Of The World Than He Who Regards Them As Firm And Stable.

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.

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.]

Let No One Trust So Entirely To Natural Prudence As To Persuade Himself That It Will Suffice To Guide Him Without Help From Experience.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ambassadors Are The Eye And Ear Of States.