Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
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Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine...We work in the Dark, to serve the Light.
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God and nature have thrown all human fortunes into the midst of mankind; and they are thus attainable rather by rapine than by industry, by wicked actions rather than by good. Hence it is that men feed upon each other, and those who cannot defend themselves must be worried.
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The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
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Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.
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Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
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One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain; and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons when danger is far away; but when it comes nearer to you, they turn away.
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He who builds on the people, builds on the mud...
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Speaking generally, men are ungrateful, fickle, hypocritical, fearful odanger and covetous ogain.
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Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves...
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The leader should know how to enter into evil when necessity commands.
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A battle that you win cancels all your mistakes.
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And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.
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For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.
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We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed.
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There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
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A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savor of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.
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Men are more ready to offend one who desires to be beloved than one who wishes to be feared.
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Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.
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A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.
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God creates men, but they choose each other.
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Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.
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Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
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Ability and perseverance are the weapons of weakness.
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A battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours. In the same way, by losing one, all the good things worked by you before become vain.