The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.
We must bear in mind, then, that there is nothing more difficult and dangerous, or more doubtful of success, than an attempt to introduce a new order of things in any state. For the innovator has for enemies all those who derived advantages from the old order of things, whilst those who expect to be benefited by the new institutions will be but lukewarm defenders.
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.
Politics have no relation to morals.
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
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 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.
There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it according to the necessity of the case.
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 man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
....those who become princes through their skill acquire the pricipality with difficulty, buy they hold onto it with ease.
The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.
Gold will not always get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can get you gold.
....it cannot be called ingenuity to kill one's fellow citizens, to betray friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; by these means one can aquire power but not glory.
Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
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.
The innovator has for enemies all who have done well under the old, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.
Because just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.
He who has annexed them, if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind two considerations: the one, that the family of their former lord is extinguished; the other, that neither their laws nor their taxes are altered, so that in a very short time they will become entirely one body with the old principality.
....nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.
....for friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the proper moment they cannot be spent.
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.
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