Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
-
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
-
It is much better to tempt fortune where it can favor you than to see your certain ruin by not tempting it.
-
One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.
-
...people are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.
-
It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent.
-
Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
-
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.
-
...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.
-
The ends justifies the means.
-
Few men are brave by nature, but good discipline and experience make many so.
-
With difficulty he is beaten who can estimate his own forces and those of his enemy.
-
One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
-
If the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.
-
A battle that you win cancels all your mistakes.
-
Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been obtained by ordinary methods.
-
A blast in the human breast is nothing to boast of.
-
Then also pretexts for seizing property are never wanting, and one who begins to live by rapine will always find some reason for taking the goods of others, whereas causes for taking life are rarer and more quickly destroyed.
-
The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.
-
And here one must not that hatred is acquired just as much by means of good actions as by bad ones; and so, as I said above, if a prince wishes to maintain the state, he is often obliged not to be good; because whenever that group which you believe you need to support you is corrupted, whether it be the common people, the soldiers, or the nobles, it is to your advantage to follow their inclinations in order to satisfy them; and then good actions are your enemy.
-
It is a foolish prince who entrusts the safety of his lands to hired men.
-
By the delusions of seeming good the people are often misled to desire their own ruin; and they are frequently influenced by great hopes and brave promises.
-
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
-
The nature of man is such that people consider themselves put under an obligation as much by the benefits they confer as by those they receive.
-
That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty.