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

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.

Affairs that depend on many rarely succeed.

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

...be more guided by hope than fear.

Experience has always shown, and reason also, that affairs which depend on many seldom succeed.

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.