Niccolò Machiavelli Quotes

Injuries, therefore, should be inflicted all at once, that their ill savour being less lasting may the less offend; whereas, benefits should be conferred little by little, that so they may be more fully relished.

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

Because fear and ove can hardly co exist together,if we must chose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

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 .

Men injure either from fear or hatred.

For men do harm either out of fear or out of hatred.

... He who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new... partly from the incredulity of mankind, who will never admit the merit of anything new, until they have seen it proved by the event.

Prudence therefore consists in knowing how to distinguish degrees of disadvantage, and in accepting a less evil as a good.

No proceeding is better than that which you have concealed from the enemy until the time you have executed it. To know how to recognize an opportunity in war, and take it, benefits you more than anything else. Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many. Discipline in war counts more than fury.

For no man is found so prudent as to know how to adapt himself to these changes, both because he cannot deviate from the course to which nature inclines him, and because, having always prospered while adhering to one path, he cannot be persuaded that it would be well for him to forsake it. And so when occasion requires the cautious man to act impetuously, he cannot do so and is undone: whereas had he changed his nature with time and circumstances, his fortune would have been unchanged.

And the usual course of affairs is that, as soon as a powerful foreigner enters a country, all the subject states are drawn to him, moved by the hatred that they feel against the ruling power.

men change their rulers willingly, hoping to better themselves, and this hope induces them to take up arms against him who rules, wherein they are deceived because they afterward find by experience they have gone from bad to worse.

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.

Fear is as dangerous an enemy as resentment.

One ought perhaps not to count Moses, as he was a mere executor of the will of God; he must nevertheless be admired, if only for the grace that made him worthy of speaking to God.