Niccolo Machiavelli Quotations

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.

It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.

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

If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.

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

Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.

I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.

It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.

God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.

Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.

Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.

The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.

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.

Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.

Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.

The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.

A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.

Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.

One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.

For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.

Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.

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

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.

A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

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.

There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

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

War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.

The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.

Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.

Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.

Let no one oppose this belief of mine with that well-worn proverb: 'He who builds on the people builds on mud

Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

May princes know then that they begin to lose (their) state at that hour in which they begin to break the laws and those customs and usages that are ancient and under which men have lived for a long time

If One Wishes That a Sect of a Republic Live a Long Time, It Is Necessary to Draw It Back Often toward Its Principle

The question is, then, do we try to make things easy on ourselves or do we try to make things easy on our customers, whoever they may be?

Wise men say, and not without reason, that whoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.

each candidate behaved well in the hope of being judged worthy of election. However, this system was disastrous when the city had become corrupt. For then it was not the most virtuous but the most powerful who stood for election, and the weak, even if virtuous, were too frightened to run for office.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

A son could bear complacently the death of his father while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair

A prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding. If his own prowess fails to compare with theirs, at least it has an air of greatness about it.

A prince must not have any objective nor any thought, nor take up any art, other than the art of war and its ordering and discipline; because it is the only art that pertains to him who commands. And it is of such virtue that not only does it maintain those who were born princes, but many times makes men rise to that rank from private station.

Before all else, be armed.

The leader should know how to enter into evil when necessity commands.

Power is the pivot on which everything hinges. He who has the power is always right; the weaker is always wrong.

Never lead your soldiers to battle if you have not first confirmed their spirit and known them to be without fear and ordered; and never test them except when you see that they hope to win.

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

The princes who have done great things are the ones who have taken little account of their promises.

A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savor of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.

Few men are brave by nature, but good discipline and experience make many so.

A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.

One of the great secrets of the day is to know how to take possession of popular prejudices and passions, in such a way as to introduce a confusion of principles which makes impossible all understanding between those who speak the same language and have the same interests.

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.

When fortune wishes to bring mighty events to a successful conclusion, she selects some man of spirit and ability who knows how to seize the opportunity she offers.

If the chief party, whether it be the people, or the army, or the nobility, which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity, be corrupt, you must follow their humor and indulge them, and in that case honesty and virtue are pernicious.

In the same manner, having been reduced by disorder, and sunk to their utmost state of depression, unable to descend lower, they, of necessity, reascend; and thus from good they gradually decline to evil, and from evil again return to good. The reason is, that valor produces peace; peace, repose; repose, disorder; disorder, ruin; so from disorder order springs; from order virtue, and from this, glory and good fortune.

Republics have a longer life and enjoy better fortune than principalities, because they can profit by their greater internal diversity. They are the better able to meet emergencies.

We must distinguish between those who depend on others, that is between those who to achieve their purposes can force the issue and those who must use persuasion. In the second case, they always come to grief, having achieved nothing; when, however, they depend on their own resources and can force the issue, then they are seldom endangered.

I consider it a mark of great prudence in a man to abstain from threats or any contemptuous expressions, for neither of these weaken the enemy, but threats make him more cautious, and the other excites his hatred, and a desire to revenge himself.

A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it.

Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.

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

I hold it to be a proof of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words toward anyone, for neither diminishes the strength of the enemy.

Some princes, so as to hold securely the state, have disarmed their subjects, others have kept their subject towns distracted by factions...Our forefathers, and those who were reckoned wise, were accustomed to say that it was necessary to hold Pistoia [an Italian city] by factions and Pisa by fortress, and with this idea they fostered quarrels in some of their tributary towns so as to keep possession of them the more easily.

It is often found that modesty and humility not only do no good, but are positively hurtful, when they are shown to the arrogant who have taken up a prejudice against you, either from envy or from any other cause.

Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine...We work in the Dark, to serve the Light.

A wise ruler should rely on what is under his own control, not on what is under the control of others.

Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.

Conquered states that have been accustomed to liberty and the government of their own laws can be held by the conqueror in three different ways. The first is to ruin them; the second, for the conqueror to go and reside there in person; and the third is to allow them to continue to live under their own laws, subject to a regular tribute, and to create in them a government of a few, who will keep the country friendly to the conqueror

There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.

Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.

The innovator has for enemies all who have done well under the old, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.

Those who either from imprudence or want of sagacity avoid doing so, are always overwhelmed with servitude and poverty; for faithful servants are always servants, and honest men are always poor; nor do any ever escape from servitude but the bold and faithless, or from poverty, but the rapacious and fraudulent.

All who contribute to the overthrow of religion, or to the ruin of kingdoms and commonwealths, all who are foes to letters and to the arts which confer honour and benefit on the human race (among whom I reckon the impious, the cruel, the ignorant, the indolent, the base and the worthless), are held in infamy and detestation.

...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.

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

When every province of the world so teems with inhabitants that they can neither subsist where they are nor remove themselves elsewhere... the world will purge itself in one or another of these three ways (floods, plague and famine)

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