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And above all you ought to guard against leading an army to fight which is afraid or which is not confident of victory. For the greatest sign of an impending loss is when one does not believe one can win.

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
Doe
Afraid
Impending
Believe
Fight
Guard
Ought
Confident
Greatest
Leading
Winning
Sign
Fighting
Army
War
Victory
Art
Loss

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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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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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Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge.
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From this arises the question whether 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.
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But in Republics there is a stronger vitality, a fiercer hatred, a keener thirst for revenge. The memory of their former freedom will not let them rest so that the safest course is either to destroy them, or to go and live in 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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So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.
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To keep your actions and your plans secret always has been a very good thing . .. Marcus Crassus said to one who asked him when he was going to move the army: 'Do you believe that you will be the only one not to hear the trumpet?
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To know in war how to recognize an opportunity and seize it is better than anything else.
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We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
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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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I say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness.
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Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself for that power is produced by him either through craft or force and both of these are suspected by the one who has been raised to power.
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There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.
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A government which does not trust its citizens to be armed is not itself to be trusted.
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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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The peasant wants only to be left alone to prosper in peace.
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There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.
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Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.
Niccolo Machiavelli