Quotes by
Niccolò Machiavelli |
1469-1527 , Italian political philosopher
Florentine Renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, writer and secretary of the Florentine republic. His most famous work, The Prince (Il Principe), brought him a reputation as an atheist and an immoral cynic.Regarded as the founder of modern political science.
| 20 quotes | 5,186 visits |
Quotations
| • | One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. 14 |
| • | Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. (this version was used in “Godfather;” the original starts with “The Prince”.) 12 |
| • | The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him. 11 |
| • | The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar. 10 |
| • | If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. 8 |
| • | There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious. 6 |
| • | Perhaps we should wish to be both feared and loved: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose, it is far safer to be feared than loved. 6 |
| • | 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. 6 |
| • | Never was anything great achieved without danger. 5 |
| • | Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity. 4 |
| • | Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are. 4 |
| • | Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please. 4 |
| • | Hence it comes that all armed prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed prophets have been destroyed. 4 |
| • | There is no other way of guarding oneself against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect. 4 |
| • | Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions. 3 |
| • | The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people. 3 |
| • | Men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear. 2 |
| • | It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious. 2 |
| • | The Romans, foreseeing troubles, dealt with them at once... for they knew that war is not to be avoided, but is only put off to the advantage of others. 2 |
| • | The chief foundations of all states are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws. 2 |
