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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.

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
Three
Explanation
Kind
Third
Things
Thirds
Kinds
Unassisted
Neither
Explanations
Brain
Understands
Alone
Brains
Others
Shown

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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.
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It is necessary that the prince should know how to color his nature well, and how to be a hypocrite and dissembler. For men are so simple, and yield so much to immediate necessity, that the deceiver will never lack dupes.
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There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.
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And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.
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By the delusions of seeming good the people are often misled to desire their own ruin and they are frequently influenced by great hopes and brave promises.
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One arises from a low to a high station more often by using fraud instead of force.
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Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
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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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Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
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Never do your enemy a minor injury.
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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.
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Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even though they cannot entirely keep to the tracks of others or emulate the prowess of their models. So a prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding.
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God creates men, but they choose each other.
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The forces of adversaries are more diminished by the loss of those who flee than of those who are killed.
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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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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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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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Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.
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The ends justifies the means.
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Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been obtained by ordinary methods.
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