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Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge.

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
Need
Done
Needs
Way
Men
Revenge
Harm
Fear

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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Benefits should be conferred gradually and in that way they will taste better.
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There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.
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Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.
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For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.
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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.
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One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
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Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.
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There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
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Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.
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Because there are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself another which appreciates what others comprehend and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless.
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(A ruler) cannot and should not keep his word when to do so would go against his interests or when the reason he pledged it no longer holds.
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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 has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain as fame or power not founded on its own strength.
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Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.
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To know in war how to recognize an opportunity and seize it is better than anything else.
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I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason and supervision for adulation is lacking.
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Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
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Is it better to be loved or feared?
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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.
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