We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIMen should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries – for heavy ones they cannot.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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The 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.
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Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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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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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
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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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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense.
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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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War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
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A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man.
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His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
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The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
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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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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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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
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Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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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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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
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Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
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Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
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It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
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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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There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
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