Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Wisdom, Eye, Reality

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• Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time; but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Gun, Eight, Rome

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Past, Keeping Promises, Broken

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Men, Land, Safety

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• For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Lying, Believe, Long

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• How perilous it is to free a people who prefer slavery.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  People, Slavery

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• Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Winning, Deception, Force

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Work, Philosophical, Men

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• Women are the most charitable creatures, and the most troublesome. He who shuns women passes up the trouble, but also the benefits. He who puts up with them gains the benefits, but also the trouble. As the saying goes, there's no honey without bees.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Benefits, Honey, Gains

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2009). “The Essential Writings of Machiavelli”, p.456, Modern Library

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• The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Lions, Foxes, Traps

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.55, Knickerbocker Classics

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• When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty, workday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death: I pass indeed into their world.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Home, Clothes, Space

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Government, Doe, Citizens

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Inspirational, Relationship, Marketing

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Always Wrong, Hinges

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• 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.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Passion, Confusion, Understanding

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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.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Truth, Reality, Empathy

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Wise, Philosophical, Reality

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Men, Numbers, Trying

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• A sign of intelligence is an awareness of one's own ignorance.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Ignorance, Intelligence, Awareness

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• 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.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Self Esteem, Men, Democracy

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• So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Art, War, Impossible

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• Nothing feeds upon itself as liberality does.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Doe, Liberality

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2002). “The Prince”, Spark Notes

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• 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.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Mistake, Men, Wish

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• 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.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Diversity, Democracy, Republic

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• Men are so stupid and concerned with their present needs, they will always let themselves be deceived.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Stupid, Men, Needs

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