A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIThis first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
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This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
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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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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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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
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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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Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
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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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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense.
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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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The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
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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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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI






