Niccolò Machiavelli
"Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties."
70 Quotes
"Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Men hesitate less to injure a man who makes himself loved than to injure one who makes himself feared for their love is held by a chain of obligation which because of men's wickedness is broken on every occasion for the sake of selfish profit but their fear is secured by a dread of punishment."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Fear is secured by a dread of punishment."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Decide which is the line of conduct that presents the fewest drawbacks and then follow it out as being the best one because one never finds anything perfectly pure and unmixed or exempt from danger."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Benefits should be granted little by little so that they may be better enjoyed."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Never was anything great achieved without danger."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"... one would like to be both [loved and feared], but as it is difficult to combine both love and fear, if one has to choose between them it is far safer to be feared than loved"
Niccolò Machiavelli
"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
Niccolò Machiavelli
The Prince
"When evening comes, I go back home, and go to my study. On the threshold I take off my work clothes, covered in mud and filth, and put on the clothes an ambassador would wear. Decently dressed, I enter the ancient courts of rulers who have long since died. There I am warmly welcomed, and I feed on the only food I find nourishing, and was born to savor. I am not ashamed to talk to them, and to ask them to explain their actions. And they, out of kindness, answer me. Four hours go by without my feeling any anxiety. I forget every worry. I am no longer afraid of poverty, or frightened of death. I live entirely through them."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Never do an enemy a small injury."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"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."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"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."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Men in general are as much affected by what a thing appears to be as by what it is, indeed they are frequently influenced more by appearances than by reality."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people"
Niccolò Machiavelli
"Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity."
Niccolò Machiavelli
"When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty, workday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death: I pass indeed into their world."
Niccolò Machiavelli
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