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

- 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.

- Francesco Guicciardini

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 …

- Francesco Guicciardini

...be more guided by hope than fear.

- Francesco Guicciardini

Affairs that depend on many rarely succeed.

- Francesco Guicciardini

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

- Francesco Guicciardini

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

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

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 alm…

- Francesco Guicciardini