196 quotes found
“Those who believe that where great personages are concerned new favors cause old injuries to be forgotten deceive themselves.”
“Without an opportunity, their abilities would have been wasted, and without their abilities, the opportunity would have arisen in vain.”
“It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.”
“There are many who think a wise prince ought, when he has the chance, to foment astutely some enmity, so that by suppressing it he will augment his greatness.”
“...no one should marvel at the ease with which Alexander [the Great] kept possession of Asia, or at the difficulties which others, like Pyrrhus and many more, had in preserving their conquests. The...”
“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 a...”
“Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.”
“A prince ought to have two fears one from within on account of his subjects the other from without on account of external powers. From the latter he is defended by being well armed and having good ...”
“Considering thus how much honor is awarded to antiquity, and how many timesletting pass infinite other examplesa fragment of an ancient statue has been bought at high price because someone wants to...”
“Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.”
“Armour belonging to someone else either chops off you or weighs you down or is too tight”
“Women have always been spies.”
“For no man is found so prudent as to know how to adapt himself to these changes, both because he cannot deviate from the course to which nature inclines him, and because, having always prospered wh...”
“Men in general are as much affected by what a thing appears to be as by what it is, indeed they are frequently influenced more by appearances than by reality.”
“Never was anything great achieved without danger.”
“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”
“... I believe that he will prosper most whose mode of acting best adapts itself to the character of the times; and conversely that he will be unprosperous, with whose mode of acting the times do no...”
“He listened to their opinions, stated his own, and supported them with reasons; and from his being constantly occupied with such meditations, it resulted, that when in command no complication could...”
“... From want of foresight men make changes which relishing well at first do not betray their hidden venom, as I have already observed respecting hectic fever. Nevertheless, the ruler is not truly ...”
“... Whoever becomes master of a city accustomed to live in freedom and does no destroy it, may reckon on being destroyed by it. For if it should rebel, it can always screen itself under the name of...”
