It ought to be remembered that 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. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.
Cruelties should be committed all at once.
All the armed prophets conquered; all the unarmed ones perished.
When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty clothes of everyday, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world.
Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
Nothing feeds upon itself as liberality does.
Though fraud in all other actions be odious, yet in matters of war it is laudable and glorious, and he who overcomes his enemies by stratagem is as much to be praised as he who overcomes them by force.
Fear is secured by a dread of punishment.
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been obtained by ordinary methods.
Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.
It is often found that modesty and humility not only do no good, but are positively hurtful, when they are shown to the arrogant who have taken up a prejudice against you, either from envy or from any other cause.
In war, discipline can do more than fury.
The peasant wants only to be left alone to prosper in peace.
Change has no constituency.
How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.
The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.
A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
It has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain as fame or power not founded on its own strength.
Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.
Men seldom rise from low condition to high rank without employing either force or fraud, unless that rank should be attained either by gift or inheritance.
Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.
One must be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves
A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.
Knowing how to fight made men more bold, because no one fears doing what it seems to him he has learned to do. Therefore, the ancients wanted their citizens to be trained in every warlike action.
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