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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.

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
Inheritance
Conditions
Fraud
Either
Seldom
High
Condition
Force
Rise
Power
Employing
Without
Lows
Attained
Men
Gift
Rank
Unless

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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Those who either from imprudence or want of sagacity avoid doing so, are always overwhelmed with servitude and poverty for faithful servants are always servants, and honest men are always poor nor do any ever escape from servitude but the bold and faithless, or from poverty, but the rapacious and fraudulent.
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Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
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...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.
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Whoever takes it upon himself to establish a commonwealth and prescribe laws must presuppose all men naturally bad, and that they will yield to their innate evil passions as often as they can do so with safety.
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The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
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Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
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I consider it a mark of great prudence in a man to abstain from threats or any contemptuous expressions, for neither of these weaken the enemy, but threats make him more cautious, and the other excites his hatred, and a desire to revenge himself.
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One must consider the final result
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The ends justifies the means.
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So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.
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Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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The reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.
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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.
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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.
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Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.
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There are three kinds of brains. The one understands things unassisted, the other understands things when shown by others, the third understands neither alone nor with the explanations of others.
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War brings out thieves and peace hangs them.
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He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.
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When fortune wishes to bring mighty events to a successful conclusion, she selects some man of spirit and ability who knows how to seize the opportunity she offers.
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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