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And Truly It Is A Very Natural And Ordinary Thing To Desire To Acquire, And Always, When Men Do It Who Can, They Will Be Praised Or Not Blamed; But When They Cannot, And Wish To Do It Anyway, Here Lies The Error And The Blame.

-Niccolo Machiavelli

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And Truly It Is

Niccolo Machiavelli

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And Truly It Is A Very Natural And Ordinary Thing To Desire To Acquire, And Always, When Men Do It Who Can, They Will Be Praised Or Not Blamed; But When They Cannot, And Wish To Do It Anyway, Here Lies The Error And The Blame.

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Men Are Able To Assist Fortune But Not To Thwart Her. They Can Weave Her Designs, But They Cannot Destroy Them.

The Chief Foundations Of All States, New As Well As Old Or Composite, Are Good Laws And Good Arms.

He Who Has Not First Laid His Foundations May Be Able With Great Ability To Lay Them Afterwards, But They Will Be Laid With Trouble To The Architect And Danger To The Building.

Any Man Who Tries To Be Good All The Time Is Bound To Come To Ruin Among The Great Number Who Are Not Good. Hence A Prince Who Wants To Keep His Authority Must Learn How Not To Be Good, And Use That Knowledge, Or Refrain From Using It, As Necessity Requires.

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.

Ability And Perseverance Are The Weapons Of Weakness.

Men Ought Either To Be Well Treated Or Crushed, Because They Can Avenge Themselves Of Lighter Injuries, Of More Serious Ones They Cannot; Therefore The Injury That Is To Be Done To A Man Ought To Be Of Such A Kind That One Does Not Stand In Fear Of Revenge.

To Keep Your Actions And Your Plans Secret Always Has Been A Very Good Thing . .. Marcus Crassus Said To One Who Asked Him When He Was Going To Move The Army: 'do You Believe That You Will Be The Only One Not To Hear The Trumpet?

Well Used Are Those Cruelties (if It Is Permitted To Speak Well Of Evil) That Are Carried Out In A Single Stroke, Done Out Of Necessity To Protect Oneself, And Are Not Continued But Are Instead Converted Into The Greatest Possible Benefits For The Subjects. Badly Used Are Those Cruelties Which. Although Being Few At The Outset, Grow With The Passing Time Instead Of Disappearing. Those Who Follow The First Method Can Remedy Their Condition With God And With Men; The Others Cannot Possibly Survive.

He Who Would Foresee What Is To Happen Should Look To What Has Happened: For All That Is Has Its Counterpart In Time Past.

Hatred Is Gained As Much By Good Works As By Evil.

Men In General Judge More From Appearances Than From Reality. All Men Have Eyes, But Few Have The Gift Of Penetration.

The Sinews Of War Are Not Gold, But Good Soldiers; For Gold Alone Will Not Procure Good Soldiers, But Good Soldiers Will Always Procure Gold.

The Best Fortress Which A Prince Can Possess Is The Affection Of His People.

The Leader Should Know How To Enter Into Evil When Necessity Commands.

And Here One Must Not That Hatred Is Acquired Just As Much By Means Of Good Actions As By Bad Ones; And So, As I Said Above, If A Prince Wishes To Maintain The State, He Is Often Obliged Not To Be Good; Because Whenever That Group Which You Believe You Need To Support You Is Corrupted, Whether It Be The Common People, The Soldiers, Or The Nobles, It Is To Your Advantage To Follow Their Inclinations In Order To Satisfy Them; And Then Good Actions Are Your Enemy.

...the Incredulity Of Mankind, Who Do Not Truly Believe In Anything New Until They Have Had Actual Experience Of It.

Knowing How To Fight Made Men More Bold, Because No One Fears Doing What It Seems To Him He Has Learned To Do. Therefore, The Ancients Wanted Their Citizens To Be Trained In Every Warlike Action.

Wise Men Say, And Not Without Reason, That Whosoever Wished To Foresee The Future Might Consult The Past.

He Who Neglects What Is Done For What Ought To Be Done, Sooner Effects His Ruin Than His Preservation.

One Can Generally Say This About Men: That They Are Ungrateful, Fickle, Simulators And Deceivers, Avoiders Of Danger, Greedy For Gain; And While You Work For Their Good They Are Completely Yours, Offering You Their Blood, Their Property, Their Lives, And Their Sons When Danger Is Far Away; But When It Comes Nearer To You, They Turn Away.

Because There Are Three Classes Of Intellects: One Which Comprehends By Itself; Another Which Appreciates What Others Comprehend; And A Third Which Neither Comprehends By Itself Nor By The Showing Of Others; The First Is The Most Excellent, The Second Is Good, The Third Is Useless.

Hence It Comes That All Armed Prophets Have Been Victorious, And All Unarmed Prophets Have Been Destroyed.

The People Resemble A Wild Beast, Which, Naturally Fierce And Accustomed To Live In The Woods, Has Been Brought Up, As It Were, In A Prison And In Servitude, And Having By Accident Got Its Liberty, Not Being Accustomed To Search For Its Food, And Not Knowing Where To Conceal Itself, Easily Becomes The Prey Of The First Who Seeks To Incarcerate It Again.

Conquered States That Have Been Accustomed To Liberty And The Government Of Their Own Laws Can Be Held By The Conqueror In Three Different Ways. The First Is To Ruin Them; The Second, For The Conqueror To Go And Reside There In Person; And The Third Is To Allow Them To Continue To Live Under Their Own Laws, Subject To A Regular Tribute, And To Create In Them A Government Of A Few, Who Will Keep The Country Friendly To The Conqueror

A Prince Ought To Have Two Fears, One From Within, On Account Of His Subjects, The Other From Without, On Account Of External Powers.

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.

The Reason Is That Nature Has So Created Men That They Are Able To Desire Everything But Are Not Able To Attain Everything: So That The Desire Being Always Greater Than The Acquisition, There Results Discontent With The Possession And Little Satisfaction To Themselves From It. From This Arises The Changes In Their Fortunes; For As Men Desire, Some To Have More, Some In Fear Of Losing Their Acquisition, There Ensues Enmity And War, From Which Results The Ruin Of That Province And The Elevation Of Another.

And If, To Be Sure, Sometimes You Need To Conceal A Fact With Words, Do It In Such A Way That It Does Not Become Known, Or, If It Does Become Known, That You Have A Ready And Quick Defense.

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.

Laa Shay'a Waqi'un Moutlaq Bale Kouloun Moumkine...we Work In The Dark, To Serve The Light.

He Who Builds On The People, Builds On The Mud

When Settling Disputes Between His Subjects, He Should Ensure That His Judgement Is Irrevocable; And He Should Be So Regarded That No One Ever Dreams Of Trying To Deceive Or Trick Him.

You Must Know, Then, That There Are Two Methods Of Fighting, The One By Law, The Other By Force: The First Method Is That Of Men, The Second Of Beasts; But As The First Method Is Often Insufficient, One Must Have Recourse To The Second.

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.

Never Lead Your Soldiers To Battle If You Have Not First Confirmed Their Spirit And Known Them To Be Without Fear And Ordered; And Never Test Them Except When You See That They Hope To Win.

We Must Distinguish Between Those Who Depend On Others, That Is Between Those Who To Achieve Their Purposes Can Force The Issue And Those Who Must Use Persuasion. In The Second Case, They Always Come To Grief, Having Achieved Nothing; When, However, They Depend On Their Own Resources And Can Force The Issue, Then They Are Seldom Endangered.

He Who Is The Cause Of Another's Advancement Is Thereby The Cause Of His Own Ruin.

...it Is A Base Thing To Look To Others For Your Defense Instead Of Depending Upon Yourself. That Defense Alone Is Effectual, Sure, And Durable Which Depends Upon Yourself And Your Own Valor.

...it Behooves Us To Adapt Oneself To The Times If One Wants To Enjoy Continued Good Fortune.

He Who Has Once Begun To Live By Rapine Always Finds Reasons For Taking What Is Not His.

I Assert Once Again As A Truth To Which History As A Whole Bears Witness That Men May Second Their Fortune, But Cannot Oppose It; That They May Weave Its Warp, But Cannot Break It. Yet They Should Never Give Up, Because There Is Always Hope, Though They Know Not The End And More Towards It Along Roads Which Cross One Another And As Yet Are Unexplored; And Since There Is Hope, They Should Not Despair, No Matter What Fortune Brings Or In What Travail They Find Themselves.

With Difficulty He Is Beaten Who Can Estimate His Own Forces And Those Of His Enemy.

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.

Speaking Generally, Men Are Ungrateful, Fickle, Hypocritical, Fearful Odanger And Covetous Ogain.

I Hope And Hoping Feeds My Pain I Weep And Weeping Feeds My Failing Heart I Laugh But The Laughter Does Not Pass Within I Burn But The Burning Makes No Mark Outside.

In The Same Manner, Having Been Reduced By Disorder, And Sunk To Their Utmost State Of Depression, Unable To Descend Lower, They, Of Necessity, Reascend; And Thus From Good They Gradually Decline To Evil, And From Evil Again Return To Good. The Reason Is, That Valor Produces Peace; Peace, Repose; Repose, Disorder; Disorder, Ruin; So From Disorder Order Springs; From Order Virtue, And From This, Glory And Good Fortune.

Therefore It Is Unnecessary For A Prince To Have All The Good Qualities I Have Enumerated, But It Is Very Necessary To Appear To Have Them.

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.

They Have Not Any Difficulties On The Way Up Because They Fly, But They Have Many When They Reach The Summit.

Since It Is Difficult To Join Them Together, It Is Safer To Be Feared Than To Be Loved When One Of The Two Must Be Lacking.

A Wise Ruler Ought Never To Keep Faith When By Doing So It Would Be Against His Interests.

And Truly It Is A Very Natural And Ordinary Thing To Desire To Acquire, And Always, When Men Do It Who Can, They Will Be Praised Or Not Blamed; But When They Cannot, And Wish To Do It Anyway, Here Lies The Error And The Blame.

It Makes Him Hated Above All Things, As I Have Said, To Be Rapacious, And To Be A Violator Of The Property And Women Of His Subjects, From Both Of Which He Must Abstain.

Many Have Imagined Republics And Principalities Which Have Never Been Seen Or Known To Exist In Reality; For How We Live Is So Far Removed From How We Ought To Live, That He Who Abandons What Is Done For What Ought To Be Done, Will Rather Bring About His Own Ruin Than His Preservation.

The End Of The Republic Is To Enervate And To Weaken All Other Bodies So As To Increase Its Own Body.

Decide Which Is The Line Of Conduct That Presents The Fewest Drawbacks And Then Follow It Out As Being The Best One, Because One Never Finds Anything Perfectly Pure And Unmixed, Or Exempt From Danger.

The Prince Must Be A Lion, But He Must Also Know How To Play The Fox.

A Battle That You Win Cancels All Your Mistakes.

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.

Gold Will Not Always Get You Good Soldiers, But Good Soldiers Can Get You Gold.

Few Men Are Brave By Nature, But Good Discipline And Experience Make Many So.

The State Is Not An Organism Capable Of Bringing Either Moral Or Material Improvements To The Populace...but Merely A Vehicle Of Power For The Men And Party In Power.

I Consider It A Mark Of Great Prudence In A Man To Abstain From Threats Or Any Contemptuous Expressions, For Neither Of These Weaken The Enemy, But Threats Make Him More Cautious, And The Other Excites His Hatred, And A Desire To Revenge Himself.

Any Man Who Tries To Be Good All The Time Is Bound To Come To Ruin Among The Great Number Who Are Not Good.

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.

One Must Consider The Final Result

Ends Justify The Means

Politics Have No Relation To Morals.

It Is Better To Be Bold Than Too Circumspect, Because Fortune Is Of A Sex Which Likes Not A Tardy Wooer And Repulses All Who Are Not Ardent.

Where The Very Safety Of The Country Depends Upon The Resolution To Be Taken, No Consideration Of Justice Or Injustice, Humanity Or Cruelty, Nor Of Glory Or Of Shame, Should Be Allowed To Prevail. But Putting All Other Considerations Aside, The Only Question Should Be: What Course Will Save The Life And Liberty Of The Country?

A Prudent Man... Must Behave Like Those Archers Who, If They Are Skillful, When The Target Seems Too Distant, Know The Capabilities Of Their Bow And Aim A Good Deal Higher Than Their Objective, Not In Order To Shoot So High But So That By Aiming High They Can Reach The Target.

The Nature Of Man Is Such That People Consider Themselves Put Under An Obligation As Much By The Benefits They Confer As By Those They Receive.

That Prince Is Highly Esteemed Who Conveys This Impression Of Himself, And He Who Is Highly Esteemed Is Not Easily Conspired Against; For, Provided It Is Well Known That He Is An Excellent Man And Revered By His People, He Can Only Be Attacked With Difficulty.

Always Assume Incompetence Before Looking For Conspiracy.

All Who Contribute To The Overthrow Of Religion, Or To The Ruin Of Kingdoms And Commonwealths, All Who Are Foes To Letters And To The Arts Which Confer Honour And Benefit On The Human Race (among Whom I Reckon The Impious, The Cruel, The Ignorant, The Indolent, The Base And The Worthless), Are Held In Infamy And Detestation.

Men Rise From One Ambition To Another: First, They Seek To Secure Themselves Against Attack, And Then They Attack Others.

The Prince Must Consider, As Has Been In Part Said Before, How To Avoid Those Things Which Will Make Him Hated Or Contemptible; And As Often As He Shall Have Succeeded He Will Have Fulfilled His Part, And He Need Not Fear Any Danger In Other Reproaches.

No Enterprise Is More Likely To Succeed Than One Concealed From The Enemy Until It Is Ripe For Execution.

Some Princes, So As To Hold Securely The State, Have Disarmed Their Subjects, Others Have Kept Their Subject Towns Distracted By Factions...our Forefathers, And Those Who Were Reckoned Wise, Were Accustomed To Say That It Was Necessary To Hold Pistoia [an Italian City] By Factions And Pisa By Fortress, And With This Idea They Fostered Quarrels In Some Of Their Tributary Towns So As To Keep Possession Of Them The More Easily.

He Who Wishes To Be Obeyed Must Know How To Command.

Among Other Causes Of Misfortune Which Your Not Being Armed Brings Upon You, It Makes You Despised.

If The Chief Party, Whether It Be The People, Or The Army, Or The Nobility, Which You Think Most Useful And Of Most Consequence To You For The Conservation Of Your Dignity, Be Corrupt, You Must Follow Their Humor And Indulge Them, And In That Case Honesty And Virtue Are Pernicious.

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.

Besides What Has Been Said, People Are Fickle By Nature; And It Is A Simple To Convince Them Of Something But Difficult To Hold Them In That Conviction; And, Therefore, Affairs Should Be Managed In Such A Way That When They No Longer Believe, They Can Be Made To Believe By Force.

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.

To Know Well The Nature Of The People One Must Be A Prince, And To Know Well The Nature Of Princes One Must Be Of The People.

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.

Whoever Is The Cause Of Another Becoming Powerful, Is Ruined Himself; For That Power Is Produced By Him Either Through Craft Or Force; And Both Of These Are Suspected By The One Who Has Been Raised To Power.

I Hold It To Be Of Great Prudence For Men To Abstain From Threats And Insulting Words Towards Any One, For Neither The One Nor The Other In Any Way Diminishes The Strength Of The Enemy; But The One Makes Him More Cautious, And The Other Increases His Hatred Of You, And Makes Him More Persevering In His Efforts To Injure You

We Cannot Attribute To Fortune Or Virtue That Which Is Achieved Without Either.

Men Should Be Either Treated Generously Or Destroyed, Because They Take Revenge For Slight Injuries - For Heavy Ones They Cannot.

He Who Desires Or Attempts To Reform The Government Of A State And Wishes To Have It Accepted, Must At Least Retain The Semblance Of The Old Forms; So That It May Seem To The People That There Has Been No Change In The Institutions, Even Though In Fact They Are Entirely Different From The Old Ones. For The Great Majority Of Mankind Are Satisfied With Appearances, As Though They Were Realities.

As The Physicians Say It Happens In Hectic Fever, That In The Beginning Of The Malady It Is Easy To Cure But Difficult To Detect, But In The Course Of Time, Not Having Been Either Detected Or Treated In The Beginning, It Becomes Easy To Detect But Difficult To Cure

There Is Nothing That Nature Seems To Have Inclined Us To As Much As Society.

Men Ought Either To Be Well Treated, Or Crushed.

The Wish To Acquire Is In Truth Very Natural And Common, And Men Always Do So When They Can.but When They Cannot Do So, Yet Wish To Do So By Any Means, Then There Is Folly And Blame.

Of Mankind We May Say In General They Are Fickle, Hypocritical, And Greedy Of Gain.

In Conclusion, The Arms Of Others Either Fall From Your Back, Or They Weigh You Down, Or They Bind You Fast.

A Prince Is Also Respected When He Is A True Friend And A True Enemy; That Is, When He Declares Himself On The Side Of One Prince Against Another Without Any Reservation.

Men Sooner Forget The Death Of Their Father Than The Loss Of Their Patrimony

A Son Can Bear With Equanimity The Loss Of His Father, But The Loss Of His Inheritance May Drive Him To Despair.

Nature That Framed Us Of Four Elements, Warring Within Our Breasts For Regiment, Doth Teach Us All To Have Aspiring Minds.

Entrepreneurs Are Simply Those Who Understand That There Is Little Difference Between Obstacle And Opportunity And Are Able To Turn Both To Their Advantage.

Nothing Feeds Upon Itself As Liberality Does.

Men Shrink Less From Offending One Who Inspires Love Than One Who Inspires Fear.

Never Was Anything Great Achieved Without Danger.

Men May Second Fortune, But They Cannot Thwart Her.

One Arises From A Low To A High Station More Often By Using Fraud Instead Of Force.

For Titles Do Not Reflect Honor On Men, But Rather Men On Their Titles.

I Say That Every Prince Must Desire To Be Considered Merciful And Not Cruel. He Must, However, Take Care Not To Misuse This Mercifulness.

The Answer Is, Of Course, That It Would Be Best To Be Both Loved And Feared. But Since The Two Rarely Come Together, Anyone Compelled To Choose Will Find Greater Security In Being Feared Than In Being Loved.

Never Do An Enemy A Small Injury.

From This Arises The Question Whether 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.

Men Are Of Three Different Capacities: One Understands Intuitively; Another Understands So Far As It Is Explained; And A Third Understands Neither Of Himself Nor By Explanation. The First Is Excellent, The Second, Commendable, And The Third, Altogether Useless.

If The Present Be Compared With The Remote Past, It Is Easily Seen That In All Cities And In All Peoples There Are The Same Desires And The Same Passions As There Always Were.

He Who Has Annexed Them, If He Wishes To Hold Them, Has Only To Bear In Mind Two Considerations: The One, That The Family Of Their Former Lord Is Extinguished; The Other, That Neither Their Laws Nor Their Taxes Are Altered, So That In A Very Short Time They Will Become Entirely One Body With The Old Principality.

It Is Often Found That Modesty And Humility Not Only Do No Good, But Are Positively Hurtful, When They Are Shown To The Arrogant Who Have Taken Up A Prejudice Against You, Either From Envy Or From Any Other Cause.

Present Wars Impoverish The Lords That Win As Much As Those That Lose.

The Reply Is, That One Ought To Be Both Feared And Loved, But As It Is Difficult For The Two To Go Together, It Is Much Safer To Be Feared Than Loved, If One Of The Two Has To Be Wanting. For It May Be Said Of Men In General That They Are Ungrateful, Voluble, Dissemblers, Anxious To Avoid Danger, And Covetous Of Gain; As Long As You Benefit Them, They Are Entirely Yours; They Offer You Their Blood, Their Goods, Their Life, And Their Children, As I Have Before Said, When The Necessity Is Remote; But When It Approaches, They Revolt.

You Must Never Believe That The Enemy Does Not Know How To Conduct His Own Affairs. Indeed, If You Want To Be Deceived Less And Want To Bear Less Danger, The More The Enemy Is Weak Or The Less The Enemy Is Cautious, So Much More Must You Esteem Him.

It Is Double Pleasure To Deceive The Deceiver.

A Prudent Man Should Always Follow In The Path Trodden By Great Men And Imitate Those Who Are Most Excellent, So That If He Does Not Attain To Their Greatness, At Any Rate He Will Get Some Tinge Of It.

It Makes Him Contemptible To Be Considered Fickle, Frivolous, Effeminate, Mean-spirited, Irresolute, From All Of Which A Prince Should Guard Himself As From A Rock; And He Should Endeavour To Show In His Actions Greatness, Courage, Gravity, And Fortitude; And In His Private Dealings With His Subjects Let Him Show That His Judgments Are Irrevocable, And Maintain Himself In Such Reputation That No One Can Hope Either To Deceive Him Or To Get Round Him.

The Romans Never Allowed A Trouble Spot To Remain Simply To Avoid Going To War Over It, Because They Knew That Wars Don't Just Go Away, They Are Only Postponed To Someone Else's Advantage. Therefore, They Made War With Philip And Antiochus In Greece, In Order Not To Have To Fight Them In Italy... They Never Went By That Saying Which You Constantly Hear From The Wiseacres Of Our Day, That Time Heals All Things. They Trusted Rather Their Own Character And Prudence- Knowing Perfectly Well That Time Contains The Seeds Of All Things, Good As Well As Bad.

A Prince Being Thus Obliged To Know Well How To Act As A Beast Must Imitate The Fox And The Lion, For The Lion Cannot Protect Himself From Snares, And The Fox Cannot Defend Himself From Wolves.

The Peasant Wants Only To Be Left Alone To Prosper In Peace.

One Should Never Fall In The Belief That You Can Find Someone To Pick You Up.

For This Is The Tragedy Of Man Circumstances Change, But He Does Not.

I Hold Strongly To This: That It Is Better To Be Impetuous Than Circumspect; Because Fortune Is A Woman And If She Is To Be Submissive It Is Necessary To Beat And Coerce Her.

He Who Becomes A Prince Through The Favour Of The People Should Always Keep On Good Terms With Them; Which It Is Easy For Him To Do, Since All They Ask Is Not To Be Oppressed

Any Harm You Do To A Man Should Be Done In Such A Way That You Need Not Fear His Revenge.

Princes And Governments Are Far More Dangerous Than Other Elements Within Society.

The New Ruler Must Determine All The Injuries That He Will Need To Inflict. He Must Inflict Them Once And For All.

Decision Making

One Can Make This Generalization About Men: They Are Ungrateful, Fickle, Liars, And Deceivers, They Shun Danger And Are Greedy For Profit; While You Treat Them Well, They Are Yours. They Would Shed Their Blood For You, Risk Their Property, Their Lives, Their Children, So Long, As I Said Above, As Danger Is Remote; But When You Are In Danger They Turn Against You.

Benefits Should Be Granted Little By Little, So That They May Be Better Enjoyed.

....it Cannot Be Called Ingenuity To Kill One's Fellow Citizens, To Betray Friends, To Be Without Faith, Without Mercy, Without Religion; By These Means One Can Aquire Power But Not Glory.

Sometimes It Has Been Of Great Moment While The Fight Is Going On, To Disseminate Words That Pronounce The Enemies' Captain To Be Dead, Or To Have Been Conquered By Another Part Of The Army. Many Times This Has Given Victory To Him Who Used It.

One Should Never Risk One's Whole Fortune Unless Supported By One's Entire Forces.

Men Are So Simple And So Much Inclined To Obey Immediate Needs That A Deceiver Will Never Lack Victims For His Deceptions.

For As Laws Are Necessary That Good Manners Be Preserved, So There Is Need Of Good Manners That Law May Be Maintained.

One Never Finds Anything Perfectly Pure And ... Exempt From Danger.

Is It Better To Be Loved Or Feared?

It Is A Foolish Prince Who Entrusts The Safety Of His Lands To Hired Men.

Men Are Driven By Two Principal Impulses, Either By Love Or By Fear.

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.

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.

A Wise Prince Then...should Never Be Idle In Times Of Peace But Should Industriously Lay Up Stores Of Which To Avail Himself In Times Of Adversity So That When Fortune Abandons Him He May Be Prepared To Resist Her Blows.

You Do Not Know The Unfathomable Cowardice Of Humanity...servile In The Face Of Force, Pitiless In The Face Of Weakness, Implacable Before Blunders, Indulgent Before Crimes...and Patient To The Point Of Martyrdom Before All The Violences Of Bold Despotism.

God And Nature Have Thrown All Human Fortunes Into The Midst Of Mankind; And They Are Thus Attainable Rather By Rapine Than By Industry, By Wicked Actions Rather Than By Good. Hence It Is That Men Feed Upon Each Other, And Those Who Cannot Defend Themselves Must Be Worried.

It Is Not Titles That Honor Men, But Men That Honor Titles.

I Am Firmly Convinced, Therefore, That To Set Up A Republic Which Is To Last A Long Time, The Way To Set About It Is To Constitute It As Sparta And Venice Were Constituted; To Place It In A Strong Position, And So To Fortify It That No One Will Dream Of Taking It By A Sudden Assault; And, On The Other Hand, Not To Make It So Large As To Appear Formidable To Its Neighbors. It Should In This Way Be Able To Enjoy Its Form Of Government For A Long Time. For War Is Made On A Commonwealth For Two Reasons: To Subjugate It, And For Fear Of Being Subjugated By It.

I Don't Doubt That Every Prince Would Like To Be Both; But Since It Is Hard To Accomodate These Qualities, If You Have To Make A Choice, To Be Feared Is Much Safer Than To Be Loved. For It Is A Good General Rule About Men, That They Are Ungrateful, Fickle, Liars, And Deceivers, Fearful Of Danger And Greedy For Gain....[love] Is A Link Of Obligation Which Men, Because They Are Rotten, Will Break Anything They Think Doing So Serves Their Advantage; But Fear Involves Dread Of Punishment, From Which They Can Never Escape.

And If Such Malignity Is Hidden For A Time, It Proceeds From The Unknown Reason That Would Not Be Known Because The Experience Of The Contrary Had Not Been Seen, But Time, Which Is Said To Be The Father Of Every Truth, Will Cause It To Be Discovered.

There Is No Avoiding War; It Can Only Be Postponed To The Advantage Of Others.

There Is Nothing More Difficult To Plan, More Doubtful Of Success, Nor More Dangerous To Manage Than The Creation Of A New Order Of Things..... Whenever His Enemies Have Occasion To Attack The Innovator They Do So With The Passion Of Partisans, While The Others Defend Him Sluggishly So That The Innovator And His Party Alike Are Vulnerable.

There Are Three Kinds Of Minds: First Those That Attain Insight And Understanding Of Things By Their Own Means, Then Those That Recognize What Is Right When Others Explain It To Them, And Finally Those That Are Capable Of Neither One Nor The Other.

Men Are Always Wicked At Bottom Unless They Are Made Good By Some Compulsion.

A Prince Must Be Prudent Enough To Know How To Escape The Bad Reputation Of Those Vices That Would Lose The State For Him, And Must Protect Himself From Those That Will Not Lose It For Him, If This Is Possible; But If He Cannot, He Need Not Concern Himself Unduly If He Ignores These Less Serious Vices.

Since The Handling Of Arms Is A Beautiful Spectacle, It Is Delightful To Young Men.

Those Who Either From Imprudence Or Want Of Sagacity Avoid Doing So, Are Always Overwhelmed With Servitude And Poverty; For Faithful Servants Are Always Servants, And Honest Men Are Always Poor; Nor Do Any Ever Escape From Servitude But The Bold And Faithless, Or From Poverty, But The Rapacious And Fraudulent.

It Ought To Be Remembered That 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. Because The Innovator Has For Enemies All Those Who Have Done Well Under The Old Conditions, And Lukewarm Defenders In Those Who May Do Well Under The New. This Coolness Arises Partly From Fear Of The Opponents, Who Have The Laws On Their Side, And Partly From The Incredulity Of Men, Who Do Not Readily Believe In New Things Until They Have Had A Long Experience Of Them.

Impetuosity And Audacity Often Achieve What Ordinary Means Fail To Achieve.

The World Has Always Been The Same; And There Is Always As Much Good Fortune As Bad In It.

God Is Not Willing To Do Everything, And Thus Take Away Our Free Will And That Share Of Glory Which Belongs To Us.

The Vulgar Crowd Always Is Taken By Appearances, And The World Consists Chiefly Of The Vulgar.

For A Long Time I Have Not Said What I Believed, Nor Do I Ever Believe What I Say, And If Indeed Sometimes I Do Happen To Tell The Truth, I Hide It Among So Many Lies That It Is Hard To Find.

It Has Always Been The Opinion And Judgment Of Wise Men That Nothing Can Be So Uncertain As Fame Or Power Not Founded On Its Own Strength.

Tardiness Often Robs Us Opportunity, And The Dispatch Of Our Forces.

When Fortune Wishes To Bring Mighty Events To A Successful Conclusion, She Selects Some Man Of Spirit And Ability Who Knows How To Seize The Opportunity She Offers.

There Is Nothing As Likely To Succeed As What The Enemy Believes You Cannot Attempt.

I Hold It To Be A Proof Of Great Prudence For Men To Abstain From Threats And Insulting Words Toward Anyone, For Neither Diminishes The Strength Of The Enemy.

If Someone Puts Up The Argument That King Louis Gave The Romagna To Pope Alexander, And The Kingdom Of Naples To Spain, In Order To Avoid A War, I Would Answer As I Did Before: That You Should Never Let Things Get Out Of Hand In Order To Avoid War. You Don't Avoid Such A War, You Merely Postpone It, To Your Own Disadvantage.

Therefore, A Prudent Ruler Ought Not To Keep Faith When By So Doing It Would Be Against His Interest, And When The Reasons Which Made Him Bind Himself No Longer Exist. If Men Were All Good, This Precept Would Not Be A Good One; But As They Are Bad, And Would Not Observe Their Faith With You, So You Are Not Bound To Keep Faith With Them.

It Is Much Safer For The Prince To Be Feared Than Loved, But He Ought To Avoid Making Himself Hated.

Then Also Pretexts For Seizing Property Are Never Wanting, And One Who Begins To Live By Rapine Will Always Find Some Reason For Taking The Goods Of Others, Whereas Causes For Taking Life Are Rarer And More Quickly Destroyed.

We Must Bear In Mind, Then, That There Is Nothing More Difficult And Dangerous, Or More Doubtful Of Success, Than An Attempt To Introduce A New Order Of Things In Any State. For The Innovator Has For Enemies All Those Who Derived Advantages From The Old Order Of Things, Whilst Those Who Expect To Be Benefited By The New Institutions Will Be But Lukewarm Defenders.

Whoever Takes It Upon Himself To Establish A Commonwealth And Prescribe Laws Must Presuppose All Men Naturally Bad, And That They Will Yield To Their Innate Evil Passions As Often As They Can Do So With Safety.

Change Has No Constituency.

Whosoever Desires Constant Success Must Change His Conduct With The Times.

Power Is The Pivot On Which Everything Hinges. He Who Has The Power Is Always Right; The Weaker Is Always Wrong.

It Is Better To Act And Repent Than Not To Act And Regret.

How Perilous It Is To Free A People Who Prefer Slavery.

You Know Better Than I That In A Republic Talent Is Always Suspect. A Man Attains An Elevated Position Only When His Mediocrity Prevents Him From Being A Threat To Others. And For This Reason A Democracy Is Never Governed By The Most Competent, But Rather By Those Whose Insignificance Will Not Jeopardize Anyone Else's Self-esteem.

Therefore, In Order Not To Have To Rob His Subjects, To Be Able To Defend Himself, Not To Become Poor And Contemptible, And Not To Be Forced To Become Rapacious, A Prince Must Consider It Of Little Importance If He Incurs The Name Of Miser, For This Is One Of The Vices That Permits Him To Rule.

Whoever Is The Cause Of Another Becoming Powerful, Is Ruined Himself.

So Long As The Great Majority Of Men Are Not Deprived Of Either Property Or Honor, They Are Satisfied.

States That Rise Quickly, Just As All The Other Things Of Nature That Are Born And Grow Rapidly, Cannot Have Roots And Ramifications; The First Bad Weather Kills Them

Human Beings Remain Constant In Their Methods Of Conduct.

Wisdom Consists In Being Able To Distinguish Among Dangers And Make A Choice Of The Least Harmful.

Men As A Whole Judge More With Their Eyes Than With Their Hands.

Nature Creates Few Men Brave, Industry And Training Makes Many.

The Unarmed Man Is Not Just Defenseless - He Is Also Contemptible.

Second Amendment

He Who Blinded By Ambition, Raises Himself To A Position Whence He Cannot Mount Higher, Must Thereafter Fall With The Greatest Loss.

Results Are Often Obtained By Impetuosity And Daring Which Could Never Have Been Obtained By Ordinary Methods.

A Wise Man Ought Always To Follow The Paths Beaten By Great Men, And To Imitate Those Who Have Been Supreme, So That If His Ability Does Not Equal Theirs, At Least It Will Savor Of It. Let Him Act Like The Clever Archers Who, Designing To Hit The Mark Which Yet Appears Too Far Distant, And Knowing The Limits To Which The Strength Of Their Bow Attains, Take Aim Much Higher Than The Mark, Not To Reach By Their Strength Or Arrow To So Great A Height, But To Be Able With The Aid Of So High An Aim To Hit The Mark They Wish To Reach.

War Is A Profession By Which A Man Cannot Live Honorably; An Employment By Which The Soldier, If He Would Reap Any Profit, Is Obliged To Be False, Rapacious, And Cruel.

Therefore It Is Unnecessary For A Prince To Have All The Good Qualities I Have Enumerated, But It Is Very Necessary To Appear To Have Them. And I Shall Dare To Say This Also, That To Have Them And Always To Observe Them Is Injurious, And That To Appear To Have Them Is Useful; To Appear Merciful, Faithful, Humane, Religious, Upright, And To Be So, But With A Mind So Framed That Should You Require Not To Be So, You May Be Able And Know How To Change To The Opposite.

War Brings Out Thieves And Peace Hangs Them.

To Be Feared Is Much Safer Then To Be Loved.

One Should Never Permit A Disorder To Persist In Order To Avoid A War, For Wars Cannot Be Avoided And Can Only Be Deferred To The Advantage Of Others.

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