Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
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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Benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
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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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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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A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
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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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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
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The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
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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 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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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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War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
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A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
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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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No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
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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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI