For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.
— Niccolo Machiavelli
There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.
A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
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.
Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.
The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.
God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.
A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.
Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
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.
Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.
Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.
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.
The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.
Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.
Never was anything great achieved without danger.
The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.
The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people.
War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.
Before all else, be armed.
A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.
There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
Politics have no relation to morals.
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
