Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
-
There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.
-
Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.
-
If the chief party, whether it be the people, or the army, or the nobility, which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity, be corrupt, you must follow their humor and indulge them, and in that case honesty and virtue are pernicious.
-
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.
-
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 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.
-
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.
-
Men as a whole judge more with their eyes than with their hands.
-
Gold will not always get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can get you gold.
-
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.
-
One must consider the final result...
-
There should be many judges, for few will always do the will of few.
-
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.
-
I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason and supervision for adulation is lacking.
-
Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
-
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.
-
When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.
-
It is the duty of a man of honor to teach others the good which he has not been able to do himself because of the malignity of the times, that this good finally can be done by another more loved in heaven.
-
For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
-
Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.
-
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...
-
How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.
-
A wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.
-
For titles do not reflect honor on men, but rather men on their titles.