Before all else, be armed.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIIt 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.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.
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Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
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Politics have no relation to morals.
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Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.
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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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Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
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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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We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
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Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
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One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
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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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To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people.
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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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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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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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Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
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This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
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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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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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Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
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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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The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense.
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There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI