We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIWhere the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
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War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.
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Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
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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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No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
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It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
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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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Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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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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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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Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
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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.
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Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
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The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.
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Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI