We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIMen 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.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man.
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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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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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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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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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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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Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.
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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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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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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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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
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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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A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI