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Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes - Page 13

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When men receive favours from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor.

When men receive favours from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Men

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Fear, Wish, Together
"The Prince". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513.

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Love, Two, Together
Niccolo Machiavelli (1979). “The Portable Machiavelli”, p.93, Penguin

The innovator has for enemies all who have done well under the old, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Enemy, Done, May
Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.21, FastPencil Inc

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Class, Appreciate, Three
Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.93, FastPencil Inc

Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Simple, Men, Yield

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

Niccolo Machiavelli
Military, Men, Effort

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Love Is, Men, Avid

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Causes
"The Prince". Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, 1513.

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Fickle, Literature, May

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Believe
"The Prince". Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, as translated by Luigi Ricci (1903), 1513.

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Two, Together, Would Be
Niccolo Machiavelli (2002). “The Prince”, Spark Notes

And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined, for the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is merited but is not secured, and at times is not to be had.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Preparation
"The Prince". Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, as translated by Luigi Ricci (1903), 1513.

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
War, Men, Political

When every province of the world so teems with inhabitants that they can neither subsist where they are nor remove themselves elsewhere.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Population, Three, World
"Discourses on Livy" by Niccolò Machiavelli, book 1, ch. 5, as translated by Ninian Hill Thomson, 1517.

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Wise, Italian, Cities

Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.

Niccolo Machiavelli
War, Army, Order

The prince who relies upon their words, without having otherwise provided for his security, is ruined; for friendships that are won by awards, and not by greatness and nobility of soul, although deserved, yet are not real, and cannot be depended upon in time of adversity.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Time, Real, Adversity
"The Prince". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513.

A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Father, Loss, Son
"Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 462-63, Del. Prin, Chapter XVII, 1922.

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Grief

For whoever conquers a free Town, and does not demolish it, commits a great Error, and may expect to be ruin 'd himself.

Niccolo Machiavelli
War, Errors, Uprising
"History Of Florence And The Affairs Of Italy".

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Reality
Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.48, Race Point Publishing

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Religious, Opposites, Faithful
Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.73, FastPencil Inc

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Men
Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.56, Knickerbocker Classics

To know in war how to recognize an opportunity and seize it is better than anything else.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Opportunity

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