Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIIt is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
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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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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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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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A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
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It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
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The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
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Politics have no relation to morals.
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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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It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.
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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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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense.
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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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One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
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The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI