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There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.

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
Nothing
Much
Inclined
Society
Nature
Seems

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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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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And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.
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Every little advantage is of great moment when men have to come to blows.
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Men are of three different capacities: one understands intuitively another understands so far as it is explained and a third understands neither of himself nor by explanation. The first is excellent, the second, commendable, and the third, altogether useless.
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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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If the present be compared with the remote past, it is easily seen that in all cities and in all peoples there are the same desires and the same passions as there always were.
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Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.
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There is no avoiding war it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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Ability and perseverance are the weapons of weakness.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Although deceit is detestable in all other things, yet in the conduct of war it is laudable and honorable and a commander who vanquishes an enemy by stratagem is equally praised with one who gains victory by force.
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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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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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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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Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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It is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved? It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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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One must consider the final result
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The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
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There is nothing so difficult or so dangerous as to undertake to change the order of things.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion.
Niccolo Machiavelli