It Is A Great Matter To Be

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.

Since There Is Nothing So Well Worth Having As Friends, Never Lose A Chance To Make Them.

To 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.

Even Though Many People Prove To Be Ungrateful, Do Not Let That Stop You From Benefiting Others-for Not Only Is Beneficence In Itself A Noble And Almost Divine Quality, It May Also Happen That While You Practice It, You Will Encounter Someone So Grateful That He Will Make Up For All The Others' Ingratitude.

The Affairs Of This World Are So Shifting And Depend On So Many Accidents, That It Is Hard To Form Any Judgment Concerning The Future; Nay, We See From Experience That The Forecasts Even Of The Wise Almost Always Turn Out False.