Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes - Page 9

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• For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Men, Great Men, Invention

  11 Copy quote

• To know well the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to know well the nature of princes one must be of the people.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  People, Literature

  "The Portable Machiavelli".

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• Occasionally words must serve to veil the facts. But let this happen in such a way that no one become aware of it; or, if it should be noticed, excuses must be at hand to be produced immediately.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Hands, Veils, Way

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• And here one must not that hatred is acquired just as much by means of good actions as by bad ones; and so, as I said above, if a prince wishes to maintain the state, he is often obliged not to be good; because whenever that group which you believe you need to support you is corrupted, whether it be the common people, the soldiers, or the nobles, it is to your advantage to follow their inclinations in order to satisfy them; and then good actions are your enemy.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Believe, Mean, Order

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• In the same manner, having been reduced by disorder, and sunk to their utmost state of depression, unable to descend lower, they, of necessity, reascend; and thus from good they gradually decline to evil, and from evil again return to good. The reason is, that valor produces peace; peace, repose; repose, disorder; disorder, ruin; so from disorder order springs; from order virtue, and from this, glory and good fortune.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Art, Spring, War

  "Florentine Histories" by Niccolò Machiavelli, book V, chapter 1, 1526.

  20 Copy quote

• Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Revenge, Men, Hustle

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  War, Taken, Promise

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• Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself; for that power is produced by him either through craft or force; and both of these are suspected by the one who has been raised to power.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Powerful, Crafts, Causes

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.12, Knickerbocker Classics

  9 Copy quote

• He who would foresee what is to happen should look to what has happened: for all that is has its counterpart in time past.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Past, Looks, Should

  7 Copy quote

• Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are; and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Men, Sight, Judging

  31 Copy quote

• When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Confidence, Gun, People

  50 Copy quote

• If the present be compared with the remote past, it is easily seen that in all cities and in all peoples there are the same desires and the same passions as there always were.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Passion, Past, Cities

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• The reason is that nature has so created men that they are able to desire everything but are not able to attain everything: so that the desire being always greater than the acquisition, there results discontent with the possession and little satisfaction to themselves from it. From this arises the changes in their fortunes; for as men desire, some to have more, some in fear of losing their acquisition, there ensues enmity and war, from which results the ruin of that province and the elevation of another.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Art, War, Men

  "Discourses on Livy". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, Book 1, Ch. 37, (as translated by LJ Walker and B Crick, 1517.

  14 Copy quote

• A wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Wise, Mean, Government

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.33, Race Point Publishing

  22 Copy quote

• Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it; for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient institutions.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Cities, Names, Liberty

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• The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Government, Law, Foundation

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.47, FastPencil Inc

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• In order not to annul our free will, I judge it true that Fortune may be mistress of one half our actions but then even she leaves the other half, or almost, under our control.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Order, Judging, Mistress

  8 Copy quote

• Prudence therefore consists in knowing how to distinguish degrees of disadvantage.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Knowing, Degrees, Disadvantages

  Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Moore (2010). “Machiavelli, More & Luther”, p.78, Cosimo, Inc.

  11 Copy quote

• Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Men, Numbers, Trying

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• War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Peace, War, Men

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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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• A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Simple, Men, Good Man

  Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.99, Race Point Publishing

  19 Copy quote

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Government, Able, Causes

  24 Copy quote

• For titles do not reflect honor on men, but rather men on their titles.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Men, Honor, Titles

  "Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 372-75, Dei Discorsi, III. 38, 1922.

  8 Copy quote

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

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Lions, Foxes, Snares

  NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (2008). “The Prince (EasyRead Large Bold Edition)”, p.89, ReadHowYouWant.com

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