"One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others."
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Quote collection
Niccolo Machiavelli quotes (page 3 of 20)
389 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman."
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"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 can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved."
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"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."
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"Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please."
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"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."
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"Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine...We work in the Dark, to serve the Light."
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"He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command."
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"There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed."
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"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."
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"Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived."
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"How perilous it is to free a people who prefer slavery."
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"All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer."
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"An armed republic submits less easily to the rule of one of its citizens than a republic armed by foreign forces. Rome and Sparta were for many centuries well armed and free. The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom. Among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible. It is not reasonable to suppose that one who is armed will obey willingly one who is unarmed; or that any unarmed man will remain safe among armed servants."
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"The unarmed man is not just defenseless - he is also contemptible."
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"One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived."
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"For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are."
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"There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you."
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"I hold it to be a proof of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words toward anyone, for neither diminishes the strength of the enemy."
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"No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution."
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