Top 100 Quotes About Niccolo Machiavelli
#1. The promise given was necessity of the past: the word borken is a necessity of the present -Niccolo Machiavelli
Michael Scott
#2. Without doubt, ferocious and disordered men are much weaker than timid and ordered ones. For order chases fear from men and disorder lessens ferocity.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#3. Nothing consumes itself so much as generosity, because while you practise it you're losing the wherewithal to go on practising it.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#4. I say, then, that hereditary States, accustomed to the family of their Prince, are maintained with far less difficulty than new States, since all that is required is that the Prince shall not depart from the usages of his ancestors, trusting for the rest to deal with events as they arise.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#6. For love is held by the tie of obligation, which, because men are a sorry breed, is broken on every whisper of private interest; but fear is bound by the apprehension of punishment which never relaxes its grasp.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#7. As a general thing anyone who is not your friend will advise neutrality while anyone who is your friend will ask you to join him, weapon in hand.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#8. Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#9. Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#10. If in other respects the old condition of things be continued, and there be no discordance in their customs, men live peaceably with one another ...
Niccolo Machiavelli
#11. (A ruler) cannot and should not keep his word when to do so would go against his interests or when the reason he pledged it no longer holds.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#12. Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#13. Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#15. There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#17. Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#18. When you disarm your subjects, however, you offend them by showing that either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#19. The state is not an organism capable of bringing either moral or material improvements to the populace ... but merely a vehicle of power for the men and party in power.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#21. Princes should devolve on others those matters that entail responsibility, and reserve to themselves those that relate to grace and favour.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#22. The wish to acquire is no doubt a natural and common sentiment, and when men attempt things within their power, they will always be praised rather than blamed. But when they persist in attempts that are beyond their power, mishaps and blame ensue.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#23. And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined, for the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is merited but is not secured, and at times is not to be had.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#25. Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it; for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient institutions.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#27. Master the rules of the game until you can play it better they can.
Michael Scott
#28. (About Cesare Borgia) What cruelties were not the result of his? Who could count all his crimes? Such was the man that Machiavel prefers to all the great geniuses of his time, and to the heroes of antiquity, and of which he finds the life and action make a good example for those that fortune favors.
Frederick The Great
#30. Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#31. Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#32. A man who wishes to profess at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#34. People are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#35. Men are so self-complacent in their own affairs, and so willing to deceive themselves, that they are rescued with difficulty from this pest. If they wish to defend themselves they run the risk of becoming contemptible.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#36. Hence it comes that all armed prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed prophets have been destroyed.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#37. When men receive favours from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor ...
Niccolo Machiavelli
#38. Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#39. 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
#40. The prince who relies upon their words, without having otherwise provided for his security, is ruined; for friendships that are won by awards, and not by greatness and nobility of soul, although deserved, yet are not real, and cannot be depended upon in time of adversity.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#41. Discontented inhabitants who willingly admit a foreign power either through excessive ambition or through fear, as was the case with the Etolians, who admitted the Romans into Greece. So it was with every province that the Romans entered: they were brought in by the inhabitants themselves.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#42. And above all you ought to guard against leading an army to fight which is afraid or which is not confident of victory. For the greatest sign of an impending loss is when one does not believe one can win.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#43. I say that every prince ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel. Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this clemency.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#44. Men judge more from appearances than reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.
Everyone sees your exterior, but few can
discern what you have in your heart.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#46. It cannot be called ingenuity to kill one's fellow citizens, to betray friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; by these means one can aquire power but not glory.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#47. There is no other way of guarding oneself against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#48. The wise man should always follow the roads that have been trodden by the great, and imitate those who have most excelled, so that if he cannot reach their perfection, he may at least acquire something of its savour.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#49. And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#50. There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#51. A wise man will see to it that his acts always seem voluntary and not done by compulsion, however much he may be compelled by necessity.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#52. A wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#53. Half of these aren't even Machiavelli.
Some are Plato, Thucydides etc ... doesnt anyone check these?
Niccolo Machiavelli
#54. But in republics there is more vitality, more hatred, and more desire for revenge. The memory of former freedom simply will not leave the people in peace.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#55. A prince who is not himself wise cannot be wisely advised ... Good advice depends on the shrewdness of the prince who seeks it, and not the shrewdness of the prince on good advice.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#56. You ought never to suffer your designs to be crossed in order to avoid war, since war is not so to be avoided, but is only deferred to your disadvantage.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#57. I consider it a mark of great prudence in a man to abstain from threats or any contemptuous expressions, for neither of these weaken the enemy, but threats make him more cautious, and the other excites his hatred, and a desire to revenge himself.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#58. So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#60. You must never believe that the enemy does not know how to conduct his own affairs. Indeed, if you want to be deceived less and want to bear less danger, the more the enemy is weak or the less the enemy is cautious, so much more must you esteem him.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#62. 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, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#63. Among other causes of misfortune which your not being armed brings upon you, it makes you despised ...
Niccolo Machiavelli
#64. For as laws are necessary that good manners may be preserved, so there is need of good manner that laws may be maintained.
[It., Perche, cosi come i buoni costumi, per mantenersi, hanno bisogno delli leggi; cosi le leggi per ossevarsi, hanno bisogno de' buoni costumi.]
Niccolo Machiavelli
#65. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#66. What remains to be done must be done by you; since in order not to deprive us of our free will and such share of glory as belongs to us, God will not do everything himself.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#67. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves
Niccolo Machiavelli
#68. All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#69. Still, to slaughter fellow-citizens, to betray friends, to be devoid of honour, pity, and religion, cannot be counted as merits, for these are means which may lead to power, but which confer no glory.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#70. Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#71. The sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers; for gold alone will not procure good soldiers, but good soldiers will always procure gold.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#72. For men do easily part with their prince upon hopes of bettering their condition, and that hope provokes them to rebel; but most commonly they are mistaken, and experience tells them their condition is much worse.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#74. The reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#75. The wise prince, therefore, has always avoided these arms and turned to his own and has been willing rather to lose with them than to conquer with the others, not deeming that a real victory which is gained with the arms of others.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#76. But while it was their opportunities that made these men fortunate, it was their own merit that enabled them to recognize these opportunities and turn them to account, to the glory and prosperity of their country.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#77. A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. 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
#78. The people, as Cicero says, may be ignorant, but they can recognize the truth and will readily yield when some trustworthy man explains it to them.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#79. He [the prince] holds to what is right when he can but knows how to do wrong when he must.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#80. Can satisfy the people, for their object is more righteous than that of the nobles, the latter wishing to oppress, while the former only desire not to be oppressed.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#81. For friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the proper moment they cannot be spent.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#82. It is a common failing of man not to take account of tempests during fair weather.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#83. It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#84. Good individuals cannot exist without good education, and good education cannot exist without good laws,
Niccolo Machiavelli
#85. There are three kinds of minds: first those that attain insight and understanding of things by their own means, then those that recognize what is right when others explain it to them, and finally those that are capable of neither one nor the other.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#86. cannot be called talent to slay fellow-citizens, to deceive friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; such methods may gain empire, but not glory.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#87. Princes should delegate to others the enactment of unpopular measures and keep in their own hands the means of winning favours.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#88. The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#90. Thus the popes, sometimes in zeal for religion, at others moved by their own ambition, were continually calling in new parties and exciting new disturbances.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#91. The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#93. And let it be noted that there is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to set up as a leader in the introduction of changes.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#94. If princes are indeed superior to the people in enacting laws, in organizing civil governments, in setting up new statues and ordinances, then doubtless the people are so superior in maintaining what has been instituted that they increase the glory of those who instituted them.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#95. A battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours. In the same way, by losing one, all the good things worked by you before become vain.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#96. A sculptor will more easily extract a beautiful statue from a piece of rough marble than from one that has been badly blocked out by someone else.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#97. Prudence consists in knowing how to distinguish the character of troubles, and for choice to take the lesser evil.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#99. If you wish to please me, and to bring success and honour to yourself, do right and study, because others will help you if you help yourself.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#100. People should either be caressed or crushed. If you do them minor damage they will get their revenge; but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do. If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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