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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.
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
Ability
Mighty
Opportunity
Wishes
Wish
Conclusion
Spirit
Fortune
Men
Offers
Events
Bring
Selects
Successful
Seize
More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli
Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.
Niccolo Machiavelli
One arises from a low to a high station more often by using fraud instead of force.
Niccolo Machiavelli
The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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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 are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.
Niccolo Machiavelli
He who builds on the people, builds on the mud
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Cruelties should be committed all at once.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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
Niccolo Machiavelli
Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Many have dreamed up republics and principalities that have never in truth been known to exist the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation.
Niccolo Machiavelli
In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
Niccolo Machiavelli
The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.
Niccolo Machiavelli
We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
Niccolo Machiavelli
It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not to suffer.
Niccolo Machiavelli
....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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Men never do good unless necessity drives them to it but when they are free to choose and can do just as they please, confusion and disorder become rampant.
Niccolo Machiavelli
