Niccolo Machiavelli quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Niccolo Machiavelli on Wise Famous Quotes.

A prince is also esteemed when he is a true friend and a true enemy.

The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body.

Anyone who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed.

In respect to foresight and firmness, the people are more prudent, more stable, and have better judgement than princes.

Knowledge doth come of learning well retained, Unfruitful else,

These opportunities, then, gave these men the chance they needed, and their great abilities made them recognize it.

For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying

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

The sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers; for gold alone will not procure good soldiers, but good soldiers will always procure gold.

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

Good individuals cannot exist without good education, and good education cannot exist without good laws,

A government which does not trust its citizens to be armed is not itself to be trusted.

One never finds anything perfectly pure and ... exempt from danger.

Never do your enemy a minor injury.

For the mob is always impressed by appearances and by results, and the world is composed of the mob.

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

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

If the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.

Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.

The first way to lose a state is to neglect the art of war; the first way to gain a state is to be skilled in the art of war.

Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful.

All the armed prophets conquered; all the unarmed ones perished.

Impetuosity and audacity often achieve what ordinary means fail to achieve.

It is a foolish prince who entrusts the safety of his lands to hired men.

It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.

In peace one is despoiled by the mercenaries, in war by one's enemies.

In war, discipline can do more than fury.

Princes should delegate to others the enactment of unpopular measures and keep in their own hands the means of winning favours.

War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.

The world has always been the same; and there is always as much good fortune as bad in it.

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

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

In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.

Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not to suffer.

For, although one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives.

A man who wishes to profess at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good.

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

The people, as Cicero says, may be ignorant, but they can recognize the truth and will readily yield when some trustworthy man explains it to them.

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

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

Change has no constituency.

One arises from a low to a high station more often by using fraud instead of force.

Fear is as dangerous an enemy as resentment.

Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.

For Time, driving all things before it, may bring with it evil as well as good.

Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.

The ends justifies the means

He who is the cause of another's advancement is thereby the cause of his own ruin.

Those who become princes through their skill acquire the pricipality with difficulty, buy they hold onto it with ease.

People are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.

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

A battle that you win cancels all your mistakes.

Without an opportunity, their abilities would have been wasted, and without their abilities, the opportunity would have arisen in vain.

It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.

Prudence therefore consists in knowing how to distinguish degrees of disadvantage,

For on Cardinal Rohan saying to me that the Italians did not understand war, I replied that the French did not understand politics.

When men receive favours from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor ...

He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his.

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

In our own days we have seen no princes accomplish great results save those who have been accounted miserly.

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

Prudence consists in knowing how to distinguish the character of troubles, and for choice to take the lesser evil.

So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.

Men may second fortune, but they cannot thwart her.

Cruelties should be committed all at once.

Moreover, no one feels grateful to anyone for those benefits of freedom that all share in common, at least so long as they enjoy them.

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

Although crimes may win an empire, they do not win glory.

Politics have no relation to morals.

He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.

Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves

A battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours. In the same way, by losing one, all the good things worked by you before become vain.

It is a common failing of man not to take account of tempests during fair weather.

Necessity is what impels men to take action, and once necessity is gone, only rot and decay are left

At Florence which included diplomatic missions to various European courts. Imprisoned

A prince need take little account of conspiracies if the people are disposed in his favor.

A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.

The incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

Nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.

For government consists in nothing else but so controlling subjects that they shall neither be able to, nor have cause to do [it] harm.

He who thinks new favours will cause great personages to forget old injuries deceives himself.

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.

All the States and Governments by which men are or ever have been ruled, have been and are either Republics or Princedoms.

The reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.

Nicia: God send him the plague!
Timoteo: Why?
Nicia: So he'll get it!

Men are always wicked at bottom unless they are made good by some compulsion.

Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge.

To ensure victory the troops must have confidence in themselves as well as in their commanders.

Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.

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

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

Every little advantage is of great moment when men have to come to blows.

One should never allow chaos to develop in order to avoid going to war, because one does not avoid a war but instead puts it off to his disadvantage

One must consider the final result

Men must either be caressed or else destroyed.

He [the prince] holds to what is right when he can but knows how to do wrong when he must.

There should be many judges, for few will always do the will of few.

The Swiss are well armed and very free.

If in other respects the old condition of things be continued, and there be no discordance in their customs, men live peaceably with one another ...