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Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes - Page 15

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For as laws are necessary that good manners be preserved, so there is need of good manners that law may be maintained.

For as laws are necessary that good manners be preserved, so there is need of good manners that law may be maintained.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Law, Good Man, Needs

When they remain in garrison, soldiers are maintained with fear and punishment; when they are then led to war, with hope and reward.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Punishment

Present wars impoverish the lords that win as much as those that lose.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Winning

Without doubt, ferocious and disordered men are much weaker than timid and ordered ones. For order chases fear from men and disorder lessens ferocity.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Men

....those who become princes through their skill acquire the pricipality with difficulty, buy they hold onto it with ease.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Skills, Ease, Politics

...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Life, Want, Fortune

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Lying, Men, Errors

(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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Reason, Should, Interest

It is the duty of a man of honor to teach others the good which he has not been able to do himself because of the malignity of the times, that this good finally can be done by another more loved in heaven.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Men, Heaven, Honor

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Men
The Prince ch. 14 (1532) (translation by Angelo M. Codevilla)

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, War, Fighting

There is nothing that Nature seems to have inclined us to as much as society.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Society, Seems

...people are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Nature, People, Fickle

...it is a base thing to look to others for your defense instead of depending upon yourself. That defense alone is effectual, sure, and durable which depends upon yourself and your own valor.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Defense, Looks, Valor

Men may second fortune, but they cannot thwart her.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Men, May, Fortune

The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Swiss, Enjoy, Wells
Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.40, Race Point Publishing

But in Republics there is a stronger vitality, a fiercer hatred, a keener thirst for revenge. The memory of their former freedom will not let them rest; so that the safest course is either to destroy them, or to go and live in them.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Memories, Revenge, Hatred
Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Moore (2010). “Machiavelli, More & Luther”, p.19, Cosimo, Inc.

For it must be noted, that men must either be caressed or else annihilated; they will revenge themselves for small injuries, but cannot do so for great ones; the injury therefore that we do to a man must be such that we need not fear his vengeance.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Revenge, Men, Needs
Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.9, Knickerbocker Classics

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Nature, Teaching, Ambition

Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Beautiful, Art, War

If someone puts up the argument that King Louis gave the Romagna to Pope Alexander, and the kingdom of Naples to Spain, in order to avoid a war, I would answer as I did before: that you should never let things get out of hand in order to avoid war. You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, Kings, War
"The Prince". Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 3, as translated by RM Adams, 1513.

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.

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

For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Fit
Niccolo Machiavelli, Sir Thomas More, Sir (2010). “Machiavelli, More & Luther”, p.8, Cosimo, Inc.

All who contribute to the overthrow of religion, or to the ruin of kingdoms and commonwealths, all who are foes to letters and to the arts which confer honour and benefit on the human race (among whom I reckon the impious, the cruel, the ignorant, the indolent, the base and the worthless), are held in infamy and detestation.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Art, Race, Ignorant

Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Mean, Vigor, Certain

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