Quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

“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.”

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

“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 fi...”

“There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.”

“Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.”

“He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.”

“It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.”

“Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.”

“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.”

“A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.”

“Politics have no relation to morals.”

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

“Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.”

“Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.”

“Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.”

“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 ma...”

“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.”

“It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.”

“One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.”

“Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.”