Niccolo Machiavelli
» Ambition » “Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.”
» Change » “One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.”
» Conquest » “It should be noted that when he seizes a state the new ruler ought to determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He should inflict them once and for all, and not have to renew them every day.”
» Danger » “Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.”
» Favors » “Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.”
» Fear » “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.”
» Greed » “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. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.”
» Hatred » “Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.”
» Humankind » “Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.”
» Ideals and Idealism » “Many have dreamed up republics and principalities that have never in truth been known to exist; the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation.”
» Inheritance » “Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.”
» Intelligence and Intellectuals » “There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.”
» Judgment and Judges » “Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.”
» Judgment and Judges » “Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see, but only a few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are, and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion.”
» Judgment and Judges » “Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.”
» Leaders and Leadership » “Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.”
» Leaders and Leadership » “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.”
» Nations » “States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them.”
» Promises » “The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.”
» Promises » “A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.”
» Prudence » “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.”
» Punctuality » “Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.”
» Purpose » “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.”
» Totalitarianism » “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.”
» Vice » “A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.”
» Virtue » “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.”
» War » “There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.”
» Weapons » “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.”
» Will and Will Power » “God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.”
» Will and Will Power » “Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.”
» Wisdom » “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.”
