Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
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We must bear in mind, then, that there is nothing more difficult and dangerous, or more doubtful of success, than an attempt to introduce a new order of things in any state. For the innovator has for enemies all those who derived advantages from the old order of things, whilst those who expect to be benefited by the new institutions will be but lukewarm defenders.
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To know in war how to recognize an opportunity and seize it is better than anything else.
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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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Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.
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Gold will not always get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can get you gold.
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He who has annexed them, if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind two considerations: the one, that the family of their former lord is extinguished; the other, that neither their laws nor their taxes are altered, so that in a very short time they will become entirely one body with the old principality.
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Men as a whole judge more with their eyes than with their hands.
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The prince must be a lion, but he must also know how to play the fox.
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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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No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
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Human beings remain constant in their methods of conduct.
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He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must thereafter fall with the greatest loss.
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A battle that you win cancels all your mistakes.
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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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Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.
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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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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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All who contribute to the overthrow of religion, or to the ruin of kingdoms and commonwealths, all who are foes to letters and to the arts which confer honour and benefit on the human race (among whom I reckon the impious, the cruel, the ignorant, the indolent, the base and the worthless), are held in infamy and detestation.
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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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Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
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No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have.
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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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One must consider the final result...
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Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.