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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

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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
Take
Prince
Must
Cruel
Every
Considered
However
Desire
War
Art
Misuse
Care
Merciful

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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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Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
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There should be many judges, for few will always do the will of few.
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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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Because there are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself another which appreciates what others comprehend and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless.
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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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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It is necessary that the prince should know how to color his nature well, and how to be a hypocrite and dissembler. For men are so simple, and yield so much to immediate necessity, that the deceiver will never lack dupes.
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Men ought either to be well treated, or crushed.
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as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever, that in the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure
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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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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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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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The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.
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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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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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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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God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
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For as good habits of the people require good laws to support them, so laws, to be observed, need good habits on the part of the people.
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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli