Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
-
The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
-
There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.
-
Men as a whole judge more with their eyes than with their hands.
-
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.
-
Human beings remain constant in their methods of conduct.
-
It is necessary that the prince should know how to color his nature well, and how to be a hypocrite and dissembler. For men are so simple, and yield so much to immediate necessity, that the deceiver will never lack dupes.
-
He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must thereafter fall with the greatest loss.
-
A battle that you win cancels all your mistakes.
-
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.
-
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.
-
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
-
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.
-
Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
-
Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.
-
The prince must be a lion, but he must also know how to play the fox.
-
Gold will not always get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can get you gold.
-
A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.
-
You have to be a prince to understand the people, and you have to belong to the people to understand the princes.
-
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.
-
Among other causes of misfortune which your not being armed brings upon you, it makes you despised.
-
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.
-
Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.
-
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.
-
One must consider the final result...