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For as laws are necessary that good manners be preserved, so there is need of good manners that law may be maintained.

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
Needs
Preserved
Good
Maintained
Manners
Laws
Necessary
Law
May
Need

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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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A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline because that is the only art befitting one who commands.
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In order not to annul our free will, I judge it true that Fortune may be mistress of one half our actions but then even she leaves the other half, or almost, under our control.
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One should never allow chaos to develop in order to avoid going to war, because one does not avoid a war but instead puts it off to his disadvantage
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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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If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
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Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not to suffer.
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications the first bad weather kills them
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The peasant wants only to be left alone to prosper in peace.
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There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.
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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.
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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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Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.
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A prudent man... must behave like those archers who, if they are skillful, when the target seems too distant, know the capabilities of their bow and aim a good deal higher than their objective, not in order to shoot so high but so that by aiming high they can reach the target.
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As all those have shown who have discussed civil institutions, and as every history is full of examples, it is necessary to whoever arranges to found a Republic and establish laws in it, to presuppose that all men are bad and that they will use their malignity of mind every time they have the opportunity.
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It may be observed, that provinces amid the vicissitudes to which they are subject, pass from order into confusion, and afterward recur to a state of order again for the nature of mundane affairs not allowing them to continue in an even course, when they have arrived at their greatest perfection, they soon begin to decline.
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All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.
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You have to be a prince to understand the people, and you have to belong to the people to understand the princes.
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A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.
Niccolo Machiavelli