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It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman.

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
Better
Adventurous
Cautious
Fortune
Woman

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.
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The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.
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Human beings remain constant in their methods of conduct.
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Benefits should be conferred gradually and in that way they will taste better.
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The ends justifies the means.
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Hence it happened that all the armed prophets conquered, all the unarmed perished. [It., Di qui nacque che tutti li profeti armati vincero, e li disarmati rovinarono.]
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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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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God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
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In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
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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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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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Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even though they cannot entirely keep to the tracks of others or emulate the prowess of their models. So a prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding.
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There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
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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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It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.
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Men seldom rise from low condition to high rank without employing either force or fraud, unless that rank should be attained either by gift or inheritance.
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Impetuosity and audacity often achieve what ordinary means fail to achieve.
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We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean the rest have failed.
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A prince must not have any objective nor any thought, nor take up any art, other than the art of war and its ordering and discipline because it is the only art that pertains to him who commands. And it is of such virtue that not only does it maintain those who were born princes, but many times makes men rise to that rank from private station.
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