But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIPrinces and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
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There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
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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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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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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 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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If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
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Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.
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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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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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War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
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Before all else, be armed.
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The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI