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A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline because that is the only art befitting one who commands.

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
War
Befitting
Art
Commands
Thought
Prince
Must
Command
Object
Institutions
Discipline
Objects

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.
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One must consider the final result
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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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Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.
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For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.
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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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So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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It is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved? It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
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Men are of three different capacities: one understands intuitively another understands so far as it is explained and a third understands neither of himself nor by explanation. The first is excellent, the second, commendable, and the third, altogether useless.
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When settling disputes between his subjects, he should ensure that his judgement is irrevocable and he should be so regarded that no one ever dreams of trying to deceive or trick him.
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Forgiveness proceeds from a generous soul.
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Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.
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When men receive favours from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor.
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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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...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
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Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.
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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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Men are less hesitant about harming someone who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared because love is held together by a chain of obligation which, since men are wretched creatures, is broken on every occasion in which their own interests are concerned but fear is sustained by dread of punishment which will never abandon you.
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The world has always been the same and there is always as much good fortune as bad in it.
Niccolo Machiavelli