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Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not to suffer.

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
Things
Develop
Mistakes
Ambition
Strength
Mistake
Suffering
Sloth
Action
Bold
Make
Suffer

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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.
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....for friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the proper moment they cannot be spent.
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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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it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
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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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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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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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Besides what has been said, people are fickle by nature and it is a simple to convince them of something but difficult to hold them in that conviction and, therefore, affairs should be managed in such a way that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.
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Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.
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War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.
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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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The sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers.
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The ends justifies the means.
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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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Forgiveness proceeds from a generous soul.
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For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.
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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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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 rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
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Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities.
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