Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes, Wise Quotes, Italian Quotes

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.

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One man should not be afraid of improving his posessions, lest they be taken away from him, or another deterred by high taxes from starting a new business. Rather, the Prince should be ready to reward men who want to do these things and those who endeavour in any way to increase the prosperity of their city or their state.

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It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman.

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He who has annexed them, if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind two considerations: the one, that the family of their former lord is extinguished; the other, that neither their laws nor their taxes are altered, so that in a very short time they will become entirely one body with the old principality.

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Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.

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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.

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To be feared is much safer then to be loved.

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Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony

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

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And what physicians say about disease is applicable here: that at the beginning a disease is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognized or treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure. The same thing occurs in affairs of state; for by recognizing from afar the diseases that are spreading in the state (which is a gift given only to the prudent ruler), they can be cured quickly; but when, not having been recognized, they are not recognized and are left to grow to the extent that everyone recognizes them, there is no longer any cure.

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You do not know the unfathomable cowardice of humanity...servile in the face of force, pitiless in the face of weakness, implacable before blunders, indulgent before crimes...and patient to the point of martyrdom before all the violences of bold despotism.

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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.

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Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.

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A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.

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

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

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In the armies and among every ten men there is one of more life, of more heart, or at least of more authority, who with his courage, with words and by example keeps the others firm and disposed to fight.

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For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.

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

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A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.

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