Niccolò Machiavelli > Quotes

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“Never was anything great achieved without danger.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, Machiavelli Niccolo : Prince

“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“the ends justifies the means”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“Men are driven by two two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Discourses

“…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, Machiavelli Niccolo : Prince

“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great. ”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“Appear as you may wish to be”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“The End Justifies The Means”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, Prince

“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, and the third is useless.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty, workday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death: I pass indeed into their world.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“History is written by the victors.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“It is best to be both feared and loved; however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principle

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“Quod Principi plaevit habet legis vigorem”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“It's better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, Unknown Book 6404579

“And 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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“From this arises the following question: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other, but because they are difficult to combine, it is far better to be loved than feared if you cannot be both.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“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. ”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“The end justifies the means.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli