Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli Quotes
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Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
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In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
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The leader should know how to enter into evil when necessity commands.
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Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.
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Human beings remain constant in their methods of conduct.
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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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As the observance of divine institutions is the cause of the greatness of republics, so the disregard of them produces their ruin; for where the fear of God is wanting, there the country will come to ruin, unless it be sustained the fear of the prince, which temporarily supply the want of religion.
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He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.
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Good order makes men bold, and confusion, cowards.
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Power is the pivot on which everything hinges. He who has the power is always right; the weaker is always wrong.
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Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.
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Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.
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A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.
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He who would foresee what is to happen should look to what has happened: for all that is has its counterpart in time past.
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Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.
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And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.
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Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine...We work in the Dark, to serve the Light.
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The people resemble a wild beast, which, naturally fierce and accustomed to live in the woods, has been brought up, as it were, in a prison and in servitude, and having by accident got its liberty, not being accustomed to search for its food, and not knowing where to conceal itself, easily becomes the prey of the first who seeks to incarcerate it again.
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God creates men, but they choose each other.
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Never lead your soldiers to battle if you have not first confirmed their spirit and known them to be without fear and ordered; and never test them except when you see that they hope to win.
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For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.
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He who builds on the people, builds on the mud...
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A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.
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The greatest remedy that is used against a plan of the enemy is to do voluntarily what he plans that you do by force.