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