Francesco Guicciardini Quotes
Francesco Guicciardini was an Italian Renaissance historian, statesman, and political philosopher and one of the founding figures of modern historiography. After a long diplomatic and administrative career in the service of successive Medici popes and of the Florentine Republic, he wrote his monumental History of Italy, a sober and disenchanted record of the Italian wars from 1494 to 1534. The quotes below are attributed to Francesco Guicciardini, organized by topic.
Francesco Guicciardini on Happiness
-
Attributed to Francesco Guicciardini:
“Whoever is content with little is rich; whoever is not, is poor though he have all.”
Francesco Guicciardini on Politics
-
Attributed to Francesco Guicciardini:
“The world is so made that those who do not push are pushed.”
Francesco Guicciardini on Truth
-
Attributed to Francesco Guicciardini:
“There is no rule that does not have its exception.”
Francesco Guicciardini on Virtue
-
Attributed to Francesco Guicciardini:
“Let no one trust so much in another's natural goodness as not to fortify himself with reason and prudence.”
-
Attributed to Francesco Guicciardini:
“Discretion in speaking is rarer than wisdom in thinking.”