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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.

-Niccolo Machiavelli

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Whoever Takes It Upon

Niccolo Machiavelli

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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.

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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.

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

Minds Are Of Three Kinds: One Is Capable Of Thinking For Itself; Another Is Able To Understand The Thinking Of Others; And A Third Can Neither Think For Itself Nor Understand The Thinking Of Others. The First Is Of The Highest Excellence, The Second Is Excellent, And The Third Is Worthless.

Politics Have No Relation To Morals.

A Prince... Must Learn From The Fox And The Lion... One Must Be A Fox In Order To Recognize Traps, And A Lion To Frighten Off Wolves. Those Who Act Simply As Lions Are Stupid. So It Follows That A Prudent Ruler Cannot, And Must Not, Honour His Word When It Places Him At A Disadvantage And When The Reasons For Which He Made His Promise No Longer Exist.

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.

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 Swiss Are Well Armed And Enjoy Great Freedom.

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.

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.

The Ends Justifies The Means.

Ends Justify The Means

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.

Thus It Happens In Matters Of State; For Knowing Afar Off (which It Is Only Given A Prudent Man To Do) The Evils That Are Brewing, They Are Easily Cured. But When, For Want Of Such Knowledge, They Are Allowed To Grow So That Everyone Can Recognize Them, There Is No Longer Any Remedy To Be Found.

A Man Who Wishes To Make A Profession Of Goodness In Everything Must Necessarily Come To Grief Among So Many Who Are Not Good. Therefore, It Is Necessary For A Prince, Who Wishes To Maintain Himself, To Learn How Not To Be Good, And To Use This Knowledge And Not Use It According To The Necessity Of The Case.

For As Good Habits Of The People Require Good Laws To Support Them, So Laws, To Be Observed, Need Good Habits On The Part Of The People.

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

Benefits Should Be Conferred Gradually; And In That Way They Will Taste Better.

Nevertheless, He Must Be Cautious In Believing And Acting, And Must Not Inspire Fear Of His Own Accord, And Must Proceed In A Temperate Manner With Prudence And Humanity, So That Too Much Confidence Does Not Render Him Incautious, And Too Much Diffidence Does Not Render Him Intolerant. From This Arises The Question Whether It Is Better To Be Loved More Than Feared, Or Feared More Than Loved.

You Have To Be A Prince To Understand The People, And You Have To Belong To The People To Understand The Princes.

The Wise Man Should Always Follow The Roads That Have Been Trodden By The Great, And Imitate Those Who Have Most Excelled, So That If He Cannot Reach Their Perfection, He May At Least Acquire Something Of Its Savour.

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

Cruelties Should Be Committed All At Once.

The Wise Man Does At Once What The Fool Does Finally.

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

Women Are The Most Charitable Creatures, And The Most Troublesome. He Who Shuns Women Passes Up The Trouble, But Also The Benefits. He Who Puts Up With Them Gains The Benefits, But Also The Trouble. As The Saying Goes, There's No Honey Without Bees.

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.

It Is Much Better To Tempt Fortune Where It Can Favor You Than To See Your Certain Ruin By Not Tempting It.

The First Method For Estimating The Intelligence Of A Ruler Is To Look At The Men He Has Around Him.

In Respect To Foresight And Firmness, The People Are More Prudent, More Stable, And Have Better Judgement Than Princes.

If You Only Notice Human Proceedings, You May Observe That All Who Attain Great Power And Riches, Make Use Of Either Force Or Fraud; And What They Have Acquired Either By Deceit Or Violence, In Order To Conceal The Disgraceful Methods Of Attainment, They Endeavor To Sanctify With The False Title Of Honest Gains.

We Have Not Seen Great Things Done In Our Time Except By Those Who Have Been Considered Mean; The Rest Have Failed.

Wisdom Consists Of Knowing How To Distinguish The Nature Of Trouble, And In Choosing The Lesser Evil.

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.

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.

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.

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

A Prince Never Lacks Legitimate Reasons To Break His Promise.

Keeping Promises

For, In Truth, There Is No Sure Way Of Holding Other Than By Destroying

Men Never Do Good Unless Necessity Drives Them To It; But When They Are Free To Choose And Can Do Just As They Please, Confusion And Disorder Become Rampant.

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

To Know In War How To Recognize An Opportunity And Seize It Is Better Than Anything Else.

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.

...people Are By Nature Fickle, And It Is Easy To Persuade Them Of Something, But Difficult To Keep Them Persuaded.

In Truth, There Never Was Any Remarkable Lawgiver Amongst Any People Who Did Not Resort To Divine Authority, As Otherwise His Laws Would Not Have Been Accepted By The People; For There Are Many Good Laws, The Importance Of Which Is Known To Be The Sagacious Lawgiver, But The Reasons For Which Are Not Sufficiently Evident To Enable Him To Persuade Others To Submit To Them; And Therefore Do Wise Men, For The Purpose Of Removing This Difficulty, Resort To Divine Authority.

(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.

Men Judge Generally More By The Eye Than By The Hand, For Everyone Can See And Few Can Feel. Every One Sees What You Appear To Be, Few Really Know What You Are.

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

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.

Change Has No Constituency.

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

One Of The Great Secrets Of The Day Is To Know How To Take Possession Of Popular Prejudices And Passions, In Such A Way As To Introduce A Confusion Of Principles Which Makes Impossible All Understanding Between Those Who Speak The Same Language And Have The Same Interests.

Men In General Judge More By The Sense Of Sight Than By The Sense Of Touch, Because Everyone Can See But Few Can Test By Feeling. Everyone Sees What You Seem To Be, Few Know What You Really Are; And Those Few Do Not Dare Take A Stand Against The General Opinion.

A Prince Need Trouble Little About Conspiracies When The People Are Well Disposed, But When They Are Hostile And Hold Him In Hatred, Then He Must Fear Everything And Everybody.

Therefore The Best Fortress Is To Be Found In The Love Of The People, For Although You May Have Fortresses They Will Not Save You If You Are Hated By The People.

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.

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

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

A Blast In The Human Breast Is Nothing To Boast Of.

If The Course Of Human Affairs Be Considered, It Will Be Seen That Many Things Arise Against Which Heaven Does Not Allow Us To Guard.

Everyone Who Wants To Know What Will Happen Ought To Examine What Has Happened: Everything In This World In Any Epoch Has Their Replicas In Antiquity.

Men Are So Stupid And Concerned With Their Present Needs, They Will Always Let Themselves Be Deceived.

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.

....nothing Is So Unhealthy Or Unstable As The Reputation For Power That Is Not Based On One's Own Power.

Good Order And Discipline In Any Army Are To Be Depended Upon More Than Courage Alone.

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

Where The Willingness Is Great, The Difficulties Cannot Be Great.

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

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

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

Everyone Sees What You Appear To Be, Few Experience What You Really Are.

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

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

And Above All You Ought To Guard Against Leading An Army To Fight Which Is Afraid Or Which Is Not Confident Of Victory. For The Greatest Sign Of An Impending Loss Is When One Does Not Believe One Can Win.

Whoever Desires To Found A State And Give It Laws, Must Start With Assuming That All Men Are Bad And Ever Ready To Display Their Vicious Nature, Whenever They May Find Occasion For It.

For The Great Majority Of Mankind Are Satisfied With Appearances, As Though They Were Realities, And Are Often More Influenced By The Things That Seem Than By Those That Are.

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

For He Who Innovates Will Have For His Enemies All Those Who Are Well Off Under The Existing Order Of Things, And Only Lukewarm Supporters In Those Who Might Be Better Off Under The New.

The Lion Cannot Protect Himself From Traps, And The Fox Cannot Defend Himself From Wolves. One Must Therefore Be A Fox To Recognize Traps, And A Lion To Frighten Wolves.

A Sign Of Intelligence Is An Awareness Of One's Own Ignorance.

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

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.

There Is No Surer Sign Of Decay In A Country Than To See The Rites Of Religion Held In Contempt.

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.

Make Mistakes Of Ambition And Not Mistakes Of Sloth. Develop The Strength To Do Bold Things, Not To Suffer.

A Prince Who Is Not Himself Wise Cannot Be Wisely Advised. . . . Good Advice Depends On The Shrewdness Of The Prince Who Seeks It, And Not The Shrewdness Of The Prince On Good Advice.

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.

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

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

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.

....for Friendships That Are Acquired By A Price And Not By Greatness And Nobility Of Character Are Purchased But Are Not Owned, And At The Proper Moment They Cannot Be Spent.

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.

Therefore, It Is Necessary To Be A Fox To Discover The Snares And A Lion To Terrify The Wolves

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.

Men Walk Almost Always In The Paths Trodden By Others, Proceeding In Their Actions By Imitation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Is It Better To Be Loved Or Feared?

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.

How We Live Is So Different From How We Ought To Live That He Who Studies What Ought To Be Done Rather Than What Is Done Will Learn The Way To His Downfall Rather Than To His Preservation.

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

When Neither Their Property Nor Their Honor Is Touched, The Majority Of Men Live Content.

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.

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

Appear As You May Wish To Be

For Whoever Conquers A Free Town, And Does Not Demolish It, Commits A Great Error, And May Expect To Be Ruin 'd Himself.

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

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

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.

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

Make No Small Plans For They Have No Power To Stir The Soul.

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 Man Who Is Used To Acting In One Way Never Changes; He Must Come To Ruin When The Times, In Changing, No Longer Are In Harmony With His Ways.

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.

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.

There Are Three Kinds Of Intelligence: One Kind Understands Things For Itself, The Other Appreciates What Others Can Understand, The Third Understands Neither For Itself Nor Through Others. This First Kind Is Excellent, The Second Good, And The Third Kind Useless.

Before All Else, Be Armed.

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.

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.

God Creates Men, But They Choose Each Other.

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.

So Far As He Is Able, A Prince Should Stick To The Path Of Good But, If The Necessity Arises, He Should Know How To Follow Evil.

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.

Half Of These Aren't Even Machiavelli. Some Are Plato, Thucydides Etc....doesnt Anyone Check These?

A Wise Ruler Should Rely On What Is Under His Own Control, Not On What Is Under The Control Of Others.

Prudence Therefore Consists In Knowing How To Distinguish Degrees Of Disadvantage.

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.

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.

Still, A Prince Should Make Himself Feared In Such A Way That If He Does Not Gain Love, He At Any Rate Avoids Hatred; For Fear And The Absence Of Hatred May Well Go Together, And Will Be Always Attained By One Who Abstains From Interfering With The Property Of His Citizens And Subjects Or With Their Women.

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.

Without Doubt, Ferocious And Disordered Men Are Much Weaker Than Timid And Ordered Ones. For Order Chases Fear From Men And Disorder Lessens Ferocity.

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.

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.

Every One Sees What You Appear To Be, Few Really Know What You Are, And Those Few Dare Not Oppose Themselves To The Opinion Of The Many, Who Have The Majesty Of The State To Defend Them.

Because Just As Good Morals, If They Are To Be Maintained, Have Need Of The Laws, So The Laws, If They Are To Be Observed, Have Need Of Good Morals.

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.

The Reformer Has Enemies In All Who Profit By The Old Order, And Only Lukewarm Defenders In All Those Who Would Profit By The New Order.

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.

Among Other Evils Which Being Unarmed Brings You, It Causes You To Be Despised.

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.

Anyone Who Becomes Master Of A City Accustomed To Freedom And Does Not Destroy It May Expect To Be Destroyed By It; For Such A City May Always Justify Rebellion In The Name Of Liberty And Its Ancient Institutions.

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.

Men Seldom Rise From Low Condition To High Rank Without Employing Either Force Or Fraud, Unless That Rank Should Be Attained Either By Gift Or Inheritance.

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.

Republics Have A Longer Life And Enjoy Better Fortune Than Principalities, Because They Can Profit By Their Greater Internal Diversity. They Are The Better Able To Meet Emergencies.

In Our Own Days We Have Seen No Princes Accomplish Great Results Save Those Who Have Been Accounted Miserly.

Though Fraud In All Other Actions Be Odious, Yet In Matters Of War It Is Laudable And Glorious, And He Who Overcomes His Enemies By Stratagem Is As Much To Be Praised As He Who Overcomes Them By Force.

My View Is That It Is Desirable To Be Both Loved And Feared; But It Is Difficult To Achieve Both And, If One Of Them Has To Be Lacking, It Is Much Safer To Be Feared Than Loved.

Every Little Advantage Is Of Great Moment When Men Have To Come To Blows.

Princes Should Delegate To Others The Enactment Of Unpopular Measures And Keep In Their Own Hands The Means Of Winning Favours.

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

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.

When Men Receive Favours From Someone They Expected To Do Them Ill, They Are Under A Greater Obligation To Their Benefactor.

People Should Either Be Caressed Or Crushed. If You Do Them Minor Damage They Will Get Their Revenge; But If You Cripple Them There Is Nothing They Can Do. If You Need To Injure Someone, Do It In Such A Way That You Do Not Have To Fear Their Vengeance.

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

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.

Men Are Always Averse To Enterprises In Which They Foresee Difficulties.

For As Laws Are Necessary That Good Manners May Be Preserved, So There Is Need Of Good Manner That Laws May Be Maintained. [it., Perche, Cosi Come I Buoni Costumi, Per Mantenersi, Hanno Bisogno Delli Leggi; Cosi Le Leggi Per Ossevarsi, Hanno Bisogno De' Buoni Costumi.]

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

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

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

For One Change Always Leaves A Dovetail Into Which Another Will Fit.

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.

One Can Say This In General Of Men: They Are Ungrateful, Disloyal, Insincere And Deceitful, Timid Of Danger And Avid Of Profit...love Is A Bond Of Obligation That These Miserable Creatures Break Whenever It Suits Them To Do So; But Fear Holds Them Fast By A Dread Of Punishment That Never Passes.

Men May Second Fortune, But They Cannot Thwart Her.

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

A Prince Must Not Have Any Other Object Nor Any Other Thought… But War, Its Institutions, And Its Discipline; Because That Is The Only Art Befitting One Who Commands.

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.

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

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.

Violence Must Be Inflicted Once For All; People Will Then Forget What It Tastes Like And So Be Less Resentful. Benefits Must Be Conferred Gradually; And In That Way They Will Taste Better.

A Government Which Does Not Trust Its Citizens To Be Armed Is Not Itself To Be Trusted.

War Brings Out Thieves And Peace Hangs Them.

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

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

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

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

Men Are So Simple Of Mind, And So Much Dominated By Their Immediate Needs, That A Deceitful Man Will Always Find Plenty Who Are Ready To Be Deceived.

One Must Consider The Final Result

Ends Justify The Means

One Who Deceives Will Always Find Those Who Allow Themselves To Be Deceived.

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

It Is A Common Failing Of Man Not To Take Account Of Tempests During Fair Weather.

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

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.

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.

When They Remain In Garrison, Soldiers Are Maintained With Fear And Punishment; When They Are Then Led To War, With Hope And Reward.

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.

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

To Be Feared Is Much Safer Then To Be Loved.

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.

There Is Nothing More Important Than Appearing To Be Religious.

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.

The Greatest Remedy That Is Used Against A Plan Of The Enemy Is To Do Voluntarily What He Plans That You Do By Force.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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