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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.

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
Art
Rise
Rank
Thought
Private
Station
Doe
Discipline
Prince
Take
Virtue
Stations
Many
Times
Objective
Pertains
Must
Born
Maintain
Ordering
Men
War
Objectives
Princes
Makes
Command
Commands

More quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

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Men are less hesitant about harming someone who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared because love is held together by a chain of obligation which, since men are wretched creatures, is broken on every occasion in which their own interests are concerned but fear is sustained by dread of punishment which will never abandon you.
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...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.
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He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.
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Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
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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.
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When they remain in garrison, soldiers are maintained with fear and punishment when they are then led to war, with hope and reward.
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You have to be a prince to understand the people, and you have to belong to the people to understand the princes.
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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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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.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.
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One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
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He who builds on the people, builds on the mud
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Speaking generally, men are ungrateful, fickle, hypocritical, fearful odanger and covetous ogain.
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Men are more ready to offend one who desires to be beloved than one who wishes to be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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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.
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Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
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Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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A wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him.
Niccolo Machiavelli
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There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
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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