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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
Dispatch
Force
Punctual
Often
Punctuality
Robs
Philosophical
Forces
Literature
Tardiness
Opportunity

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Republics have a longer life and enjoy better fortune than principalities, because they can profit by their greater internal diversity. They are the better able to meet emergencies.
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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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God creates men, but they choose each other.
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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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The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.
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There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
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No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have.
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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.
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I consider it a mark of great prudence in a man to abstain from threats or any contemptuous expressions, for neither of these weaken the enemy, but threats make him more cautious, and the other excites his hatred, and a desire to revenge himself.
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There are three kinds of brains. The one understands things unassisted, the other understands things when shown by others, the third understands neither alone nor with the explanations of others.
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Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.
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If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
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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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The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.
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(A ruler) cannot and should not keep his word when to do so would go against his interests or when the reason he pledged it no longer holds.
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Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.
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Therefore the best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses they will not save you if you are hated by the people.
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Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities.
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The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
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