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Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.

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
Robs
Philosophical
Forces
Literature
Opportunity
Tardiness
Force
Dispatch
Often
Punctual
Punctuality

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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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There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.
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Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.
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Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.
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Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even though they cannot entirely keep to the tracks of others or emulate the prowess of their models. So a prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding.
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Men ought either to be well treated, or crushed.
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The innovator has for enemies all who have done well under the old, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.
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The world has always been the same and there is always as much good fortune as bad in it.
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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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....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.
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Hence it happened that all the armed prophets conquered, all the unarmed perished. [It., Di qui nacque che tutti li profeti armati vincero, e li disarmati rovinarono.]
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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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Cruelties should be committed all at once.
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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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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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Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.
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Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.
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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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...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.
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You must never believe that the enemy does not know how to conduct his own affairs. Indeed, if you want to be deceived less and want to bear less danger, the more the enemy is weak or the less the enemy is cautious, so much more must you esteem him.
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