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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIThe wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
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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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But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.
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Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
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Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
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The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.
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Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense.
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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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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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It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
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Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries – for heavy ones they cannot.
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Before all else, be armed.
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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI