196 quotes found
“Benefits should be granted little by little so that they may be better enjoyed.”
“If the chief party whether it be the people or the army or the nobility which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity be corrupt you must fol...”
“Decide which is the line of conduct that presents the fewest drawbacks and then follow it out as being the best one because one never finds anything perfectly pure and unmixed or exempt from danger.”
“Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful.”
“Men hesitate less to injure a man who makes himself loved than to injure one who makes himself feared for their love is held by a chain of obligation which because of men's wickedness is broken ...”
“Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.”
“Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.”
“In an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”
“Where the willingness is great the difficulties cannot be great.”
“One never finds anything perfectly pure and ... exempt from danger.”
“Only those means of security are good are certain are lasting that depend on yourself and your own vigor.”
“Men are always wicked at bottom unless they are made good by some compulsion.”
“No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.”
“War is just when it is necessary arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms. ”
“There is no avoiding war it can only be postponed to the advantage of others. ”
“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.”
“And here comes in 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...”
“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
“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 ...”
“A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of...”
