Niccolò Machiavelli quotes - page 5

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot. (Niccolò Machiavelli)
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Before all else, be armed. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
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. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt. (Niccolò Machiavelli)
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
A son could bear complacently the death of his father while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
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. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked. (Niccolò Machiavelli)
We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society. View quote
Niccolò Machiavelli