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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.

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
Feel
Sees
Feels
Generally
Judge
Every
Judging
Really
Hand
Men
Eye
Everyone
Hands
Appear

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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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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Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.
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The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.
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States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications the first bad weather kills them
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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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...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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For government consists in nothing else but so controlling subjects that they shall neither be able to, nor have cause to do [it] harm.
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Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.
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Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
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For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
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Cruelties should be committed all at once.
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Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Wise men say, and not without reason, that whosoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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...it is a base thing to look to others for your defense instead of depending upon yourself. That defense alone is effectual, sure, and durable which depends upon yourself and your own valor.
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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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You do not know the unfathomable cowardice of humanity...servile in the face of force, pitiless in the face of weakness, implacable before blunders, indulgent before crimes...and patient to the point of martyrdom before all the violences of bold despotism.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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And above all you ought to guard against leading an army to fight which is afraid or which is not confident of victory. For the greatest sign of an impending loss is when one does not believe one can win.
Niccolo Machiavelli