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For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that 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
Though
Influenced
Often
Propaganda
Reality
Empathy
Truth
Appearance
Seems
Satisfied
Appearances
Great
Majority
Apathy
Things
Mankind
Realities
Seem
Deception

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A prudent man... must behave like those archers who, if they are skillful, when the target seems too distant, know the capabilities of their bow and aim a good deal higher than their objective, not in order to shoot so high but so that by aiming high they can reach the target.
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For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying
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Forgiveness proceeds from a generous soul.
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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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It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent.
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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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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.
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A prince must not have any objective nor any thought, nor take up any art, other than the art of war and its ordering and discipline because it is the only art that pertains to him who commands. And it is of such virtue that not only does it maintain those who were born princes, but many times makes men rise to that rank from private station.
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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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For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
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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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Violence must be inflicted once for all people will then forget what it tastes like and so be less resentful. Benefits must be conferred gradually and in that way they will taste better.
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A wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.
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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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The world has always been the same and there is always as much good fortune as bad in it.
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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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In order not to annul our free will, I judge it true that Fortune may be mistress of one half our actions but then even she leaves the other half, or almost, under our control.
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The forces of adversaries are more diminished by the loss of those who flee than of those who are killed.
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I hope and hoping feeds my pain I weep and weeping feeds my failing heart I laugh but the laughter does not pass within I burn but the burning makes no mark outside.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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I hold it to be of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither the one nor the other in any way diminishes the strength of the enemy but the one makes him more cautious, and the other increases his hatred of you, and makes him more persevering in his efforts to injure you
Niccolo Machiavelli