The Prince and Other Writings Quotes

“Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince and Other Writings

“But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories, and study there the actions of illustrious men, to see how they have borne themselves in war, to examine the causes of their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former; and above all do as illustrious man did, who took as an exemplar one who had been praised and famous before him, and whose achievements and deeds he always kept in his mind, as it is said Alexander the Great imitated Achilles, Caesar Alexander, Scipio Cyrus.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince and Other Writings

“Men always praise antiquity and fault the present, although not always reasonably, and they are partisans of things past such that not only do they celebrate those ages that they know from what historians have preserved of them, but also those that as old men they recall having seen in their youth. And if this opinion of theirs is false, as it is most of the time, I am persuaded that there are various causes that lead them into this deception.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince and Other Writings

“...Fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince and Other Writings

“And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Niccolo Machiavelli Collection

“it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed,”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Niccolo Machiavelli Collection

“it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Niccolo Machiavelli Collection