Niccolò Machiavelli Short Quotes

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A prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice.

Niccolò Machiavelli
A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.

Niccolò Machiavelli
Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.

Niccolò Machiavelli
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

Niccolò Machiavelli
For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

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

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

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.

Niccolò Machiavelli
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
Variant translation: War is not to be avoided, but is only to be put off to the advantage of others

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

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

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
A man should not be injured and then assigned to important administration and control.

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
Men are so imprudent that they take up a diet which, though it tastes sweet, is poisonous.

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

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

Niccolò Machiavelli
The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.

Niccolò Machiavelli
Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.

Niccolò Machiavelli
If a prince holds on to his state by means of mercenary armies, he will never be stable or secure.

Niccolò Machiavelli
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Variant translation: Therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.

Niccolò Machiavelli