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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.

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
Time
Considered
Except
Rest
Seen
Done
Mean
Great
Things
Failed

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Princes should delegate to others the enactment of unpopular measures and keep in their own hands the means of winning favours.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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One man should not be afraid of improving his posessions, lest they be taken away from him, or another deterred by high taxes from starting a new business. Rather, the Prince should be ready to reward men who want to do these things and those who endeavour in any way to increase the prosperity of their city or their state.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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When men receive favours from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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A wise ruler should rely on what is under his own control, not on what is under the control of others.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together, and will be always attained by one who abstains from interfering with the property of his citizens and subjects or with their women.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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To keep your actions and your plans secret always has been a very good thing . .. Marcus Crassus said to one who asked him when he was going to move the army: 'Do you believe that you will be the only one not to hear the trumpet?
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been obtained by ordinary methods.
Niccolo Machiavelli