Niccolò Machiavelli Quotes

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.

Everything that occurs in the world, in every epoch, has something that corresponds to it in ancient times.

There is no other way of guarding against adulation, than to make people understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth. On the other hand, when everyone feels at liberty to tell you the truth, they will be apt to be lacking in respect to you.

When everyone feels free to tell you the truth, respect for you dwindles… A wise prince should take another course: choose wise men for your advisors, and allow only them the liberty of speaking the truth to the prince, and only on matters about which you ask, and nothing else. But you should question them about everything, listen patiently to their opinions, then form your own conclusions later.

He who causes another to become powerful ruins himself, for he brings such a power into being either by design or by force, and both of these elements are suspects to the one whom he has made powerful.

Being feared and not hated go well together, and the prince can always do this if he does not touch the property or the women of his citizens and subjects.

It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.

For whoever believes that great advancement and new benefits make men forget old injuries is mistaken.

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.

...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

Therefore any cruelty has to be executed at once, so that the less it is tasted, the less it offends; while benefits must be dispensed little by little, so that they will be savored all the more.

But when you disarm them, you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for want of loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you.

One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.

For, besides what has been said, it should be borne in mind that the temper of the multitude is fickle, and that while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion

Hence it comes that all armed prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed prophets have been destroyed.