Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
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Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.
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The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
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There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.
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Ability and perseverance are the weapons of weakness.
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All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.
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There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.
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Among other causes of misfortune which your not being armed brings upon you, it makes you despised.
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A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands.
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Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.
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Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.
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A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.
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Delusion gives you more happiness than truth gives to me. For injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavour of them may last longer.
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The prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches.
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You have to be a prince to understand the people, and you have to belong to the people to understand the princes.
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Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge.
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Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.
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No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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In order not to annul our free will, I judge it true that Fortune may be mistress of one half our actions but then even she leaves the other half, or almost, under our control.
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When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.
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A battle that you win cancels all your mistakes.
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It is a true observation of ancient writers, that as men are apt to be cast down by adversity, so they, are easily satiated with prosperity, and that joy and grief produce the same effects. For whenever men are not obliged by necessity to fight they fight from ambition, which is so powerful a passion in the human breast that however high we reach we are never satisfied.
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One should never allow chaos to develop in order to avoid going to war, because one does not avoid a war but instead puts it off to his disadvantage...
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Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.