A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIThe wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.
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We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
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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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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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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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It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
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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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Benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
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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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Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
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I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
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Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
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A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI