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Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.

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
Judgment
Particular
Justice
Men
Generalizations
Generalization
Observations
Mistaken
Observation

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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There are three kinds of brains: One understands of itself, another can be taught to understand, and the third can neither understand to itself or be taught to understand.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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The sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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By the delusions of seeming good the people are often misled to desire their own ruin and they are frequently influenced by great hopes and brave promises.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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For without invention, no one was ever a great man in his own trade.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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the wise man should always follow the roads that have been trodden by the great, and imitate those who have most excelled, so that if he cannot reach their perfection, he may at least acquire something of its savour.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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The forces of adversaries are more diminished by the loss of those who flee than of those who are killed.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.
Niccolo Machiavelli