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Men never do good unless necessity drives them to it but when they are free to choose and can do just as they please, confusion and disorder become rampant.
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
Please
Free
Rampant
Become
Drives
Good
Disorder
Never
Necessity
Men
Confusion
Unless
Choose
More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli
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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(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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You know better than I that in a Republic talent is always suspect. A man attains an elevated position only when his mediocrity prevents him from being a threat to others. And for this reason a democracy is never governed by the most competent, but rather by those whose insignificance will not jeopardize anyone else's self-esteem.
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The reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.
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Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Whoever takes it upon himself to establish a commonwealth and prescribe laws must presuppose all men naturally bad, and that they will yield to their innate evil passions as often as they can do so with safety.
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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
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 prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.
Niccolo Machiavelli
All the States and Governments by which men are or ever have been ruled, have been and are either Republics or Princedoms.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Never lead your soldiers to battle if you have not first confirmed their spirit and known them to be without fear and ordered and never test them except when you see that they hope to win.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.
Niccolo Machiavelli
In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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
And when he is obliged to take the life of any one, to do so when there is a proper justification and manifest reason for it but above all he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.
Niccolo Machiavelli
The forces of adversaries are more diminished by the loss of those who flee than of those who are killed.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.
Niccolo Machiavelli
I say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness.
Niccolo Machiavelli
For as laws are necessary that good manners be preserved, so there is need of good manners that law may be maintained.
Niccolo Machiavelli
It is the duty of a man of honor to teach others the good which he has not been able to do himself because of the malignity of the times, that this good finally can be done by another more loved in heaven.
Niccolo Machiavelli