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

Niccolo Machiavelli

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Niccolo Machiavelli
Age: 58 †
Born: 1469
Born: May 3
Died: 1527
Died: June 22
Diplomat
Historian
Military Theorist
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Political Theorist
Politician
Translator
Writer
Florence
Tuscany
Nicolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
Nicolò Machiavelli
N. Machiavelli
Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
Machiavelli
Men
Destroyed
Treated
Generously
Heavy
Hairstyles
Ones
Injuries
Either
Hustle
Literature
Slight
Cannot
Injury
Take
Revenge

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Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.
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Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
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Princes should delegate to others the enactment of unpopular measures and keep in their own hands the means of winning favours.
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A prudent man... must behave like those archers who, if they are skillful, when the target seems too distant, know the capabilities of their bow and aim a good deal higher than their objective, not in order to shoot so high but so that by aiming high they can reach the target.
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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.
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Besides what has been said, people are fickle by nature and it is a simple to convince them of something but difficult to hold them in that conviction and, therefore, affairs should be managed in such a way that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.
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There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.
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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.
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The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
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For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
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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
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He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.
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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.
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One arises from a low to a high station more often by using fraud instead of force.
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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.
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But in Republics there is a stronger vitality, a fiercer hatred, a keener thirst for revenge. The memory of their former freedom will not let them rest so that the safest course is either to destroy them, or to go and live in them.
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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.
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Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.
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A wise man will see to it that his acts always seem voluntary and not done by compulsion, however much he may be compelled by necessity.
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There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.
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