"The wise man does at once what..." - Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
More by Niccolo Machiavelli
“Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.”
“One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain; and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons when danger is far away; but when it comes nearer to you, they turn away.”
“Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.”
More on Wisdom
“These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose and cherish: to care, to be fair, to be humble.”
“The legislator must be in advance of his age.Across the mind of the statesman flash ever and anon the brilliant, though partial, intimations of future events.... Something which is more than fore-sight and less than prophetic knowledge marks the statesman a peculiar being among his contemporaries.”
“Search men's governing principles, and consider the wise, what they shun and what they cleave to.”
More on Action
“Every time we choose action over ease or labor over rest, we develop an increasing level of self-worth, self-respect and self-confidence. In the final analysis, it is how we feel about ourselves that provides the greatest reward from any activity. It is not what we get that makes us valuable, it is what we become in the process of doing that brings value into our lives. It is activity that converts human dreams into human reality, and that conversion from idea into actuality gives us a personal value that can come from no other source.”
“Whatever you do, you need courage.”
“Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.”