Great Throughts Treasury

"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."

"Nevertheless, that our freewill may not be altogether extinguished, I think it may be true that fortune is he ruler of half our actions, but that she allows the other half or a little less to be governed by us."

"No one should be astonished if in the following discussion of completely new princedoms and of the prince and of government, I bring up the noblest examples. Because, since men almost always walk in the paths beaten by others and carry on their affairs by imitating even though it is not possible to keep wholly in the paths of others or to attain the ability of those you imitate a prudent man will always choose to take paths beaten by great men and to imitate those who have been especially admirable, in order that if his ability does not reach theirs, at least it may offer some suggestion of it; and he will act like prudent archers, who, seeing that the mark they plan to hit is too far away and knowing what space can be covered by the power of their bows, take an aim much higher than their mark, not in order to reach with their arrows so great a height, but to be able, with the aid of so high an aim, to attain their purpose."

"No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have."

"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."

"Nothing consumes itself so much as generosity, because while you practice it you?re losing the wherewithal to go on practicing it."

"Nothing is more difficult than to introduce a new order. 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."

"Nothing is more necessary than to pretend Prince religiosity, people generally judge what they see with their own eyes rather than rule, including touching their hands, because every Army can see but very few have that touch the person you are."

"Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered."

"Nothing leads to respect for Prince strongly only works great, and is a regular business in general"

"Occasionally words must serve to veil the facts. But let this happen in such a way that no one become aware of it; or, if it should be noticed, excuses must be at hand to be produced immediately."

"Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain."

"One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well, they are yours. They would shed their blood for you, risk their property, their lives, their children, so long, as I said above, as danger is remote; but when you are in danger they turn against you."

"One has to be aware of the fox traps erected to him, and to be a lion to terrorize the wolves."

"One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves."

"One never finds anything perfectly pure and... exempt from danger."

"One of the best and most efficacious methods for dealing with such a State is for the Prince who acquires it to go and dwell there in person, since this will tend to make his tenure more secure and lasting."

"One ought perhaps not to count Moses, as he was a mere executor of the will of God; he must nevertheless be admired, if only for the grace that made him worthy of speaking to God."

"One should never allow chaos to develop in order to avoid going to war, because one does not avoid a war but instead puts it off to his disadvantage."

"One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived."

"Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting that depend on yourself and your own vigor."

"Or he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new. This lukewarm temper arises partly from the fear of adversaries who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who will never admit the merit of anything new, until they have seen it proved by the event. The result, however, is that whenever the enemies of change make an attack, they do so with all the zeal of partisans, while the others defend themselves so feebly as to endanger both themselves and their cause."

"People love their own free will, but they are afraid the desire of the prince."

"Politics have no relation to morals."

"Prince also takes advantage of great benefit when it works great and prominent in the internal management ... It is the religious aspect should Prince Find a suitable way to reward and punishment ... and when the two come to the work of the individual feat whether it is good or evil. Prince Ali and also to seek in every business that earns fame greatness and excellence."

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

"Princes should devolve on others those matters that entail responsibility, and reserve to themselves those that relate to grace and favor."

"Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I conclude that since men love at their own will and fear at the will of the prince, a wise prince must build a foundation on what is his own, and not on what belongs to others."

"Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more."

"Shooters aiming to point much higher than those that are interested in being infected when they are too far away."

"Should the prince who is afraid of his people more than they fear foreigners to pay tribute to castles, but the fear of foreigners more than they feared the people to work without them, the good is what all the forts based on people's love for the Prince."

"Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking."

"Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved"

"So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging."

"So to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. And whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them,"

"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. And when he is obliged to take the life of any one, to do so when there is a proper justification and manifest reason for it; but above all he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Then also pretexts for seizing property are never wanting, and one who begins to live by rapine will always find some reason for taking the goods of others, whereas causes for taking life are rarer and more quickly destroyed."

"Still, to slaughter fellow-citizens, to betray friends, to be devoid of honor, pity, and religion, cannot be counted as merits, for these are means which may lead to power, but which confer no glory."

"Such a shortcoming of humanity in general, but calculate the expense of storms in mild weather."

"Takes us the farther distance from the Old World to something new and revolutionary in human thought. That moral center, however, is hard to find with modern eyes. Locating it requires"

"Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces."

"That men thinking to better their condition, are always ready to change masters, and in this expectation will take up arms against any ruler; wherein they deceive themselves, and find afterwards by experience that they are worse off than before."

"That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty."

"The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people."

"The best forts is based on people's love for their leader if you possess strong forts they will not protect you from people hate you, it Sachehr gun in your face and will not be in need of foreign help him."

"The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws."

"The con who will always find those who Adzon themselves to be deceived."

"The demands of a free populace, too, are very seldom harmful to liberty, for they are due either to the populace being oppressed or to the suspicious that it is going to be oppressed... and, should these impressions be false, a remedy is provided in the public platform on which some man of standing can get up, appeal to the crowd, and show that it is mistaken. And though, as Tully remarks, the populace may be ignorant, it is capable of grasping the truth and readily yields when a man, worthy of confidence, lays the truth before it."

"The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love."

"The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body."

"The first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error which he made was in choosing them."