"Though fraud in all other actions be..." - Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli
Though fraud in all other actions be odious, yet in matters of war it is laudable and glorious, and he who overcomes his enemies by stratagem is as much to be praised as he who overcomes them by force.
More by Niccolo Machiavelli
“There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.”
“I hope and hoping feeds my painI weep and weeping feeds my failing heartI laugh but the laughter does not pass withinI burn but the burning makes no mark outside.”
“Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.”
More on Strategy
“If you cannot prove a man wrong, don't panic. You can always call him names.”
“We will use some kind of option and we will throw the football. I hope it will be at our people.”
“Charges of cavalry are equally useful at the beginning, the middle and the end of a battle. They should be made always, if possible, on the flanks of the infantry, especially when the latter is engaged in front.”
More on Deception
“When my love swears that she is made of truth,I do believe her, though I know she lies.”
“there is not one in a hundred of either sex, who is not taken in when they marry. ... it is, of all transactions, the one in which people expect most from others, and are least honest themselves.”
“Anyone who has looked deeply into the world may guess how much wisdom lies in the superficiality of men. The instinct that preserves them teaches them to be flighty light, and false.”