Ambassadors are the eye and ear of states. Francesco Guicciardini More Quotes by Francesco Guicciardini More Quotes From Francesco Guicciardini Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them. Francesco Guicciardini losing-friends real-friends friendship 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 waste change faces 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 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 reason people 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 needs thinking 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 sea wind water There is nothing so fleeting as the memory of benefits received. Francesco Guicciardini fleeting benefits memories ...be more guided by hope than fear. Francesco Guicciardini anticipation 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 risk running men We fight to great disadvantage when we fight with those who have nothing to lose. Francesco Guicciardini nothing-to-lose disadvantages fighting 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 pay retirement quiet The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident. Francesco Guicciardini generosity hard-work life Affairs that depend on many rarely succeed. Francesco Guicciardini affair planning succeed 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 giving men There is no evil in human affairs that has not some good mingled with it. Francesco Guicciardini affair males evil 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 shifting wise world 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 impossible facts 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 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 example evil fall 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 superstitions credit lying
