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Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

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
Politics
Others
Another
Libertarian
Firsts
Attack
First
Secure
Men
Rise
Ambition
Seek

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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It is necessary that the prince should know how to color his nature well, and how to be a hypocrite and dissembler. For men are so simple, and yield so much to immediate necessity, that the deceiver will never lack dupes.
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Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.
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War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.
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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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One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
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It is a common failing of man not to take account of tempests during fair weather.
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I hope and hoping feeds my pain I weep and weeping feeds my failing heart I laugh but the laughter does not pass within I burn but the burning makes no mark outside.
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One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons when danger is far away but when it comes nearer to you, they turn away.
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A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
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...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.
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It may be observed, that provinces amid the vicissitudes to which they are subject, pass from order into confusion, and afterward recur to a state of order again for the nature of mundane affairs not allowing them to continue in an even course, when they have arrived at their greatest perfection, they soon begin to decline.
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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.
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The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.
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There is no avoiding war it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves
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Wise men say, and not without reason, that whosoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.
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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.
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Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
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For the mob is always impressed by appearances and by results, and the world is composed of the mob.
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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