Niccolò Machiavelli Quotes

It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.

It is safer to be feared than loved

Men in general judge more with the eye than with the hand, because everyone can see, but few can feel. Everyone sees what you seem to be, but few feel what you are.

– Constantine translation

لذلك فإننا إذا أردنا أن نتناول هذه القضية بدقة ، لابد ان نعرف أولاً ما إذا كان المصلحون يعتمدون على أنفسهم ، ام أنهم يعتمدون على الأخرين . وبعبارة أخرى : هل هم قادرون على استمالة غيرهم لينفذوا ما وضعوه لهم أم أنهم يستطيعون فرضه ؟
ففي الحالة الأولى لن يحققوا سوى فوزاً ضعيفاً . ولا ينجزون شيئاً . أما إذا استطاعوا الاعتماد على سطوتهم ولديهم القدرة على استخدام قوتهم فإنهم لا يفشلون إلا فيما ندر . وبهذه الطريقة استطاع جميع الأنبياء المسلحين أن ينتصروا فيما فشل فيه غير المسلحين منهم . وذلك -بالإضافة إلى ما ذكرناه - يرجع إلى أن طبيعة البشر متقلبة . ومن السهل تحفيزهم لشيء ما ولكن من الصعب استمرار هذا الحافز .لذلك يجب أن نرتب أمورنا حتى يمكننا أن نستخدم القوة معهم لنردهم إلى الإيمان بما ارتدوا عنه .

ما يمكن التنبؤ به يمكن علاجه بسهولة، أما إذا انتظرنا إلى أن تداهمنا المخاطر، فسيصبح العلاج متأخراً عن موعده وتستصعي العلة.

Knowledge doth come of learning well retained, Unfruitful else,

And although one should not reason about Moses, as he was a mere executor of things that had been ordered for him by God, nonetheless he should be admired if only for that grace which made him deserving of speaking with God.

Non è mai alcuna cosa sì disperata, che non vi sia qualche via da poterne sperare.

that men, thinking to better their condition, are always ready to change masters, and in this expectation will take up arms against any ruler; wherein they deceive themselves, and find afterwards by experience that they are worse off than before.

This is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you.

... Physicians tell us of hectic fever, that in its beginning it is easy to cure, but hard to recognize; whereas, after a time, not having been detected and treated at the first, it becomes easy to recognize but impossible to cure. And so it is with State affairs.

Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.

I assert once again as a truth to which history as a whole bears witness that men may second their fortune, but cannot oppose it; that they may weave its warp, but cannot break it. Yet they should never give up, because there is always hope, though they know not the end and more towards it along roads which cross one another and as yet are unexplored; and since there is hope, they should not despair, no matter what fortune brings or in what travail they find themselves.

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.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.