Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries – for heavy ones they cannot.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIIt is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
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One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.
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There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others.
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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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Benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
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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.
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So that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense.
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
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Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
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God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
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When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.
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His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
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A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man.
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The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.
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Before all else, be armed.
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I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
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The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.
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The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
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Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.
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There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
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The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
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Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI