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