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And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.

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
Happens
Danger
Neutral
Always
Arms
Dangers
Time
Taking
Request
Friend
Declare
Present
Ruined
Happen
Avoid
Irresolute
Asks
Road
Princes
Order
Follow
Neutrality

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Without doubt, ferocious and disordered men are much weaker than timid and ordered ones. For order chases fear from men and disorder lessens ferocity.
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A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it.
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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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It has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain as fame or power not founded on its own strength.
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Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
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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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There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
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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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No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have.
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Many have dreamed up republics and principalities that have never in truth been known to exist the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation.
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Therefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.
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The peasant wants only to be left alone to prosper in peace.
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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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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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There should be many judges, for few will always do the will of few.
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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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Wise men say, and not without reason, that whosoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.
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One arises from a low to a high station more often by using fraud instead of force.
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Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.
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For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
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