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  • Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes   389
  • 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.]
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Law Quotes , Good Man Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Art Quotes , War Quotes
  • For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Taken Quotes , Mean Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Art Quotes , War Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Self Esteem Quotes , Men Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Art Quotes , War Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Art Quotes , War Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Mind Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Love Is Quotes , Men Quotes
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes , Men Quotes , Numbers Quotes