Niccolò Machiavelli Quotes

“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.”

“No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.”

“Tardiness often robs us of opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.”

“There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.”

“War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.”

“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 ability to execute, military plans.”

“Before all else, be armed.”

“Among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.”

“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.”

“The main foundations of every state are good laws and good arms. You cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.”

“All armed prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed prophets have been destroyed.”

“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.”

“Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offence; benefits ought to be handed out drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.”

“A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.”

“A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.”

“The prince who relies upon their words, without having otherwise provided for his security, is ruined.”

“Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.”

“Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.”

“A man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.”

“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.”

“Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.”

“Men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their inheritance.”

“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.”

“There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.”

“I love my native city more than my own soul.”