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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
Opportunity
Tardiness
Force
Dispatch
Often
Punctual
Punctuality
Robs
Philosophical
Forces
Literature

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There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
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When they remain in garrison, soldiers are maintained with fear and punishment when they are then led to war, with hope and reward.
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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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A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.
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Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.
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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.
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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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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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And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.
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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.
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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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it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
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Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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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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There is nothing so difficult or so dangerous as to undertake to change the order of things.
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Ability and perseverance are the weapons of weakness.
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...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
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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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Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not to suffer.
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