Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes - Page 12

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From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Fear, Wish, Together

"The Prince". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513.

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A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states. And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Men

"The Prince". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, Chapter 14, 1513.

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And when he is obliged to take the life of any one, to do so when there is a proper justification and manifest reason for it; but above all he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, Father, War

Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.53, Race Point Publishing

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Therefore, in order not to have to rob his subjects, to be able to defend himself, not to become poor and contemptible, and not to be forced to become rapacious, a prince must consider it of little importance if he incurs the name of miser, for this is one of the vices that permits him to rule.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Order, Vices, Littles

"The Portable Machiavelli".

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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.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Fighting

"The Complete Art of War".

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They have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Achievement, Way, Difficulty

Niccolo Machiavelli (2015). “The Prince”, p.38, Xist Publishing

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It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Said

Niccolo Machiavelli (2015). “The Prince”, p.80, Xist Publishing

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Decide which is the line of conduct that presents the fewest drawbacks and then follow it out as being the best one, because one never finds anything perfectly pure and unmixed, or exempt from danger.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Decision, Lines, Being The Best

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And if such malignity is hidden for a time, it proceeds from the unknown reason that would not be known because the experience of the contrary had not been seen, but time, which is said to be the father of every truth, will cause it to be discovered.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, Father, War

"Discourses on Livy". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, Book 1, Ch. 3, 1517.

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The forces of adversaries are more diminished by the loss of those who flee than of those who are killed.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Loss

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A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and confident; for, with a very few examples, he will be more merciful than those who, from excess of tenderness, allow disorders to arise, from whence spring murders and rapine; for these as a rule injure the whole community, while the executions carried out by the prince injure only one individual. And of all princes, it is impossible for a new prince to escape the name of cruel, new states being always full of dangers.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, Spring, War

"The Prince". Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, as translated by Luigi Ricci (1903), 1513.

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From the latter he is defended by being well armed and having good allies, and if he is well armed he will have good friends, and affairs will always remain quiet within when they are quiet without, unless they should have been already disturbed by conspiracy; and even should affairs outside be disturbed, if he has carried out his preparations and has lived as I have said, as long as he does not despair, he will resist every attack.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Good Friend

Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.76, FastPencil Inc

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

Niccolo Machiavelli

Politics, Reputation, Unstable

Niccolo Machiavelli (1979). “The Portable Machiavelli”, p.87, Penguin

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

Niccolo Machiavelli

Results, Accomplish, Has Beens

Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Moore (2010). “Machiavelli, More & Luther”, p.55, Cosimo, Inc.

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Thus it happens in matters of state; for knowing afar off (which it is only given a prudent man to do) the evils that are brewing, they are easily cured. But when, for want of such knowledge, they are allowed to grow so that everyone can recognize them, there is no longer any remedy to be found.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Men, Knowing, Evil

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And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Ambition

Niccolo Machiavelli (2015). “The Prince”, p.80, Xist Publishing

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War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.

Niccolo Machiavelli

War, Thieves

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There are three kinds of minds: first those that attain insight and understanding of things by their own means, then those that recognize what is right when others explain it to them, and finally those that are capable of neither one nor the other.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Mean, Understanding, Mind

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My view is that it is desirable to be both loved and feared; but it is difficult to achieve both and, if one of them has to be lacking, it is much safer to be feared than loved.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Views, Achieve, Difficult

Niccolo Machiavelli, Quentin Skinner, Russell Price (1988). “Machiavelli: The Prince”, p.59, Cambridge University Press

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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.

Niccolo Machiavelli

War, Men, Political

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Many have dreamed up republics and principalities that have never in truth been known to exist; the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Men, Self, Doe

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

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Punishment

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....for friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the proper moment they cannot be spent.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Character, Greatness, Politics

Niccolo Machiavelli (1979). “The Portable Machiavelli”, p.93, Penguin

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For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Taken, Mean, Credit

Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.73, FastPencil Inc

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

Niccolo Machiavelli

Men, Republic, States

Niccolo Machiavelli (2015). “The Prince”, p.4, Booklassic

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Born: May 3, 1469
Died: June 21, 1527
Occupation: Historian
Cite this Page: Citation

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