Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

“Never was anything great achieved without danger.”

“The unarmed man is not just defenseless - he is also contemptible.”

“For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.”

“Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.”

“Men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.”

“And truly it is a very natural and ordinary thing to desire to acquire, and always, when men do it who can, they will be praised or not blamed; but when they cannot, and wish to do it anyway, here lies the error and the blame.”

“For as laws are necessary that good manners may be preserved, so there is need of good manner that laws may be maintained.[It., Perche, cosi come i buoni costumi, per mantenersi, hanno bisogno delli leggi; cosi le leggi per ossevarsi, hanno bisogno de' buoni costumi.]”

“Sometimes it has been of great moment while the fight is going on, to disseminate words that pronounce the enemies' captain to be dead, or to have been conquered by another part of the army. Many times this has given victory to him who used it.”

“One must be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves”

“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”

“Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.”

“A prince is also respected when he is a true friend and a true enemy; that is, when he declares himself on the side of one prince against another without any reservation.”

“There are three kinds of minds: first those that attain insight and understanding of things by their own means, then those that recognize what is right when others explain it to them, and finally those that are capable of neither one nor the other.”

“I say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness.”

“There is nothing so difficult or so dangerous as to undertake to change the order of things.”

“The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.”

“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.”

“It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.”

“When they remain in garrison, soldiers are maintained with fear and punishment; when they are then led to war, with hope and reward.”

“How perilous it is to free a people who prefer slavery.”

“Good order makes men bold, and confusion, cowards.”

“You know better than I that in a Republic talent is always suspect. A man attains an elevated position only when his mediocrity prevents him from being a threat to others. And for this reason a democracy is never governed by the most competent, but rather by those whose insignificance will not jeopardize anyone else's self-esteem.”

“It is the duty of a man of honor to teach others the good which he has not been able to do himself because of the malignity of the times, that this good finally can be done by another more loved in heaven.”

“The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.”

“Violence must be inflicted once for all; people will then forget what it tastes like and so be less resentful. Benefits must be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.”