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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIHence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
More Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
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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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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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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
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Politics have no relation to morals.
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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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Benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
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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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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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Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.
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It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
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Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.
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I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
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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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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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The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
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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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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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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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War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
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The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.
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A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
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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.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI