Francesco Guicciardini quotes

Francesco Guicciardini was an Italian historian, statesman, and diplomat during the Renaissance. Recognized for his detailed history of Italy, his works provide valuable insight into the politics and society of his time. He is considered one of the founders of modern historical analysis. Here are 22 of his quotes:

Experience has always shown, and reason also, that affairs which depend on many seldom succeed. (Francesco Guicciardini)
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
Ambassadors are the eye and ear of states. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
We fight to great disadvantage when we fight with those who have nothing to lose. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
Frank sincerity is a quality much extolled among men and pleasing to every one, while simulation, on the contrary, is detested and condemned. Yet for a man's self, simulation is of the two by far the more useful; sincerity tending rather to the interest of others. But since it cannot be denied that it is not a fine thing to deceive, I would commend him whose conduct is as a rule open and straightforward, and who uses simulation only in matters of the gravest importance and such as very seldom occur; for in this way he will gain a name for honesty and sincerity, and with it the advantages attaching to these qualities. At the same time, when, in any extreme emergency, he resorts to simulation, he will draw all the greater advantage from it, because from his reputation for plain dealing his artifice will blind men more. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
Waste no time with revolutions that do not remove the causes of your complaints but simply change the faces of those in charge. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
There is nothing so fleeting as the memory of benefits received. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
If displeased with any man, do all you can to prevent his seeing it, for otherwise he will become estranged. And occasions often arise when he might and would have served you had you not lost him by showing your dislike. Of this I have had experience to my own profit. For once and again I have felt ill-disposed towards some one who not being aware of my hostility has afterwards helped me when I needed help and proved my good friend. (Francesco Guicciardini)
There is no evil in human affairs that has not some good mingled with it. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
Never wage war on religion, nor upon seemingly holy institutions, for this thing has too great a force upon the minds of fools. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident. View quote
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
Affairs that depend on many rarely succeed. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini
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)
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. View quote
Francesco Guicciardini