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A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from snares, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.

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
Prince
Cannot
Lions
Snares
Wells
Defend
Wolves
Well
Beast
Imitate
Must
Thus
Foxes
Protect
Recognise
Wish
Lion
War
Obliged

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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.
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Hence it happened that all the armed prophets conquered, all the unarmed perished. [It., Di qui nacque che tutti li profeti armati vincero, e li disarmati rovinarono.]
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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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Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.
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To know well the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to know well the nature of princes one must be of the people.
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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 prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline because that is the only art befitting one who commands.
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It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.
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Cruelties should be committed all at once.
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Forgiveness proceeds from a generous soul.
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Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not to suffer.
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For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
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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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Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves
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Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.
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Is it better to be loved or feared?
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Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying
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God and nature have thrown all human fortunes into the midst of mankind and they are thus attainable rather by rapine than by industry, by wicked actions rather than by good. Hence it is that men feed upon each other, and those who cannot defend themselves must be worried.
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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
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