A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIMen rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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Politics have no relation to morals.
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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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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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The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI