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Although deceit is detestable in all other things, yet in the conduct of war it is laudable and honorable and a commander who vanquishes an enemy by stratagem is equally praised with one who gains victory by force.

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
Victory
Commander
Enemy
Commanders
Force
Deceit
War
Honorable
Laudable
Things
Conduct
Detestable
Equally
Stratagem
Gains
Vanquish
Although
Praised

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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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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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...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
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For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.
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In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
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There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
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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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Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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Impetuosity and audacity often achieve what ordinary means fail to achieve.
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A prince must not have any objective nor any thought, nor take up any art, other than the art of war and its ordering and discipline because it is the only art that pertains to him who commands. And it is of such virtue that not only does it maintain those who were born princes, but many times makes men rise to that rank from private station.
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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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The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.
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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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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.
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Men are so stupid and concerned with their present needs, they will always let themselves be deceived.
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Therefore the best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses they will not save you if you are hated by the people.
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It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.
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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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There is no avoiding war it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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For the mob is always impressed by appearances and by results, and the world is composed of the mob.
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