Leadership Quote by Giulio Andreotti

Andreotti’s genius here is that he dresses a hard political truth in the language of moral instruction, then quietly detonates the lesson. “You sin in thinking bad about people” sounds like a priest’s rebuke: judgment is a vice, suspicion corrodes the soul. Then comes the pivot - “but, often, you guess right” - and the whole piety act collapses into a shrugging realism. It’s confession masquerading as counsel.

The intent isn’t to urge kindness. It’s to normalize mistrust as a professional necessity. In Andreotti’s world - postwar Italy’s smoke-filled rooms, factional bargaining, and the permanent hum of scandal - assuming the worst isn’t paranoia; it’s situational awareness. The line gives you permission to be cynical while keeping your self-image intact: yes, it’s a “sin,” but it’s also good instincts. That “often” does crucial work, too. It’s not absolute, which lets him maintain plausible virtue, yet it’s frequent enough to justify constant suspicion.

Subtextually, it’s a portrait of power as a moral compromise you learn to live with. Andreotti, long associated (fairly or not) with the shadowy overlap of statecraft, patronage, and alleged underworld ties, is signaling a worldview where innocence is not the default setting. Trust becomes a luxury item; doubt is the currency.

What makes the quote stick is its dry, almost comic equilibrium: guilt on one side, accuracy on the other. It’s politics as a form of calibrated pessimism - not pretty, but, as he implies, usually correct.