Ricordi: Maxims 41-50
Francesco Guicciardini
Maxims 31-40 from Series C of Francesco Guicciardini’s Ricordi:
41. If men were wise and good, those in authority should certainly be gentle rather than sever with them. But since the majority of men are either not very good or not very wise, one must rely more on severity than on kindness. Whoever thinks otherwise is mistaken. Surely, anyone who can skillfully mix and blend the one with the other would produce the sweetest possible accord and harmony. But heaven endows few with such talents; perhaps no one.
42. Do not strive harder to gain favor than to keep your good reputation. When you lose your good reputations, you also lose good will, which is replaced by contempt. But the man who maintains his reputation will never lack friends, favor, and good will.
43. In my various administrative posts I have observed that when I wanted to bring about peace, civil accord, and the like, it was better, before stepping in, to let maters be debated thoroughly and for a long time. In the end, out of weariness, both sides would beg me to reconcile them. Thus, at their invitation, with good reputation, and without a single note of cupidity, I could could accomplish what seemed impossible at first.
44. Do all you can to to seem good, for that can be infinitely useful. But since false opinions do not last, it will be difficult to seem good for very long, if you are really not. My father once told me this.
45. He also used to say, in praise of thrift, that a ducat in your purse does you more credit than ten you have spent.
46. In my administrations I never liked cruelty or excessive punishments. Nor are they necessary. Except for certain cases that must serve as an example, you can sufficiently maintain fear if you punish crimes with three quarters of the penalty, provided you make it a rule to punish all crimes.
47. Learning imposed on weak minds does not improve them, and it may ruin them. But when it is added to natural talent, it makes men perfect and almost divine.
48. Political power cannot be wielded according to the dictates of good conscience. If you consider its origin, you will always find it in violence—except in the case of republics within their territories, but not beyond. Not even the emperor is exempt from this rule; nor are the priests, whose violence is double, since they assault us with both temporal and spiritual arms.
49. Tell no one anything you want kept secret, for there are many things that move men to gossip. Some do it through foolishness, some for profit, others through vanity, to seem in the know. And if you unnecessarily told your secret to another, you need not be surprised if he does the same, since it matters less to him than to you that it be known.
50. Waste no time with revolutions that do not remove the causes of your complaints but that simply change the faces of those in charge. For you will still remain dissatisfied…
