Niccolò Machiavelli quotes - page 3

I assert once again as a truth to which history as a whole bears witness that men may second their fortune, but cannot oppose it; that they may weave its warp, but cannot break it. Yet they should never give up, because there is always hope, though they know not the end and more towards it along roads which cross one another and as yet are unexplored; and since there is hope, they should not despair, no matter what fortune brings or in what travail they find themselves. (Niccolò Machiavelli)
It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
There is no other way for securing yourself against flatteries except that men understand that they do not offend you by telling you the truth but when everybody can tell you the truth, you fail to get respect. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
A prince must not have any other object nor any other thoughtà but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Women are the most charitable creatures, and the most troublesome. He who shuns women passes up the trouble, but also the benefits. He who puts up with them gains the benefits, but also the trouble. As the saying goes, there's no honey without bees. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
It is enough to ask somebody for his weapons without saying 'I want to kill you with them', because when you have his weapons in hand, you can satisfy your desire. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must thereafter fall with the greatest loss. (Niccolò Machiavelli)
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. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
I say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred; for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together, and will be always attained by one who abstains from interfering with the property of his citizens and subjects or with their women. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
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. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
If you only notice human proceedings, you may observe that all who attain great power and riches, make use of either force or fraud; and what they have acquired either by deceit or violence, in order to conceal the disgraceful methods of attainment, they endeavor to sanctify with the false title of honest gains. Those who either from imprudence or want of sagacity avoid doing so, are always overwhelmed with servitude and poverty; for faithful servants are always servants, and honest men are always poor; nor do any ever escape from servitude but the bold and faithless, or from poverty, but the rapacious and fraudulent. God and nature have thrown all human fortunes into the midst of mankind; and they are thus attainable rather by rapine than by industry, by wicked actions rather than by good. Hence it is that men feed upon each other, and those who cannot defend themselves must be worried. (Niccolò Machiavelli)
The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
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. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli