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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.

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
Art
Princes
Others
Unpopular
Hands
Measures
Mean
Favour
Winning
Enactment
War
Favours
Means
Delegate
Keep
Delegates

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Sometimes it has been of great moment while the fight is going on, to disseminate words that pronounce the enemies' captain to be dead, or to have been conquered by another part of the army. Many times this has given victory to him who used it.
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A wise ruler should rely on what is under his own control, not on what is under the control of others.
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A multitude is strong while it holds together, but so soon as each of those who compose it begins ro think of his own private danger, it becomes weak and contemptible.
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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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(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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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.
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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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Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient institutions.
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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.
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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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It is a common failing of man not to take account of tempests during fair weather.
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Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves
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Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.
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Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.
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War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.
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For whoever conquers a free Town, and does not demolish it, commits a great Error, and may expect to be ruin 'd himself.
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There are three kinds of brains: One understands of itself, another can be taught to understand, and the third can neither understand to itself or be taught to understand.
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Those who either from imprudence or want of sagacity avoid doing so, are always overwhelmed with servitude and poverty for faithful servants are always servants, and honest men are always poor nor do any ever escape from servitude but the bold and faithless, or from poverty, but the rapacious and fraudulent.
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One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons when danger is far away but when it comes nearer to you, they turn away.
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Republics have a longer life and enjoy better fortune than principalities, because they can profit by their greater internal diversity. They are the better able to meet emergencies.
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