We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIPrinces and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
-
-
Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries – for heavy ones they cannot.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI -
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI