"A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands."
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Niccolo Machiavelli quotes (page 18 of 20)
389 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Nevertheless, he must be cautious in believing and acting, and must not inspire fear of his own accord, and must proceed in a temperate manner with prudence and humanity, so that too much confidence does not render him incautious, and too much diffidence does not render him intolerant. From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved."
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"For titles do not reflect honor on men, but rather men on their titles."
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"How laudable it is for a prince to keep good faith and live with integrity, and not with astuteness, every one knows. Still the experience of our times shows those princes to have done great things who have had little regard for good faith, and have been able by astuteness to confuse men's brains, and who have ultimately overcome those who have made loyalty their foundation."
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"For as good habits of the people require good laws to support them, so laws, to be observed, need good habits on the part of the people."
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"To keep your actions and your plans secret always has been a very good thing . .. Marcus Crassus said to one who asked him when he was going to move the army: 'Do you believe that you will be the only one not to hear the trumpet?"
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"When they remain in garrison, soldiers are maintained with fear and punishment; when they are then led to war, with hope and reward."
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"Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation."
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"They have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit."
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"A son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair."
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"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."
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"Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred; for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together, and will be always attained by one who abstains from interfering with the property of his citizens and subjects or with their women."
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"The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body."
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"Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them."
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"No proceeding is better than that which you have concealed from the enemy until the time you have executed it. To know how to recognize an opportunity in war, and take it, benefits you more than anything else. Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many. Discipline in war counts more than fury."
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"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."
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"Among other causes of misfortune which your not being armed brings upon you, it makes you despised."
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"Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge."
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"...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it."
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"For a prince should have two fears: one, internal concerning his subjects; the other, external, concerning foreign powers. From the latter he can always defend himself by his good troops and friends; and he will always have good friends if he has good troops."
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