Great Throughts Treasury

"To govern more securely some Princes have disarmed their subjects...but by disarming, you at once give offence, since you show your subjects that you distrust them, either by doubting their courage, or as doubting their fidelity, each of which imputations begets hatred against you."

"To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people."

"Upon this, one has to remark that 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."

"Victory erase the effects of a more business failure, while pre-empt defeat more structured plans."

"War cannot be avoided; it can only be postponed to the other's advantage."

"War does not prevent but is postponed in favor of another."

"War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms."

"Weapons of wage earners and allies useless and dangerous, and anyone who lives on their own weapons forces paid cannot be sure of the strength and Thapa mandate. Because it forces disjointed and her own ambitions, and the organization is not her era, a look strong in front of friends, but when the cemetery Cope with enemies, they do not fear God and do not preserve outdated with the people, and the crash is subject to postponement of aggression. They Anhbounk in peacetime, and Anhpk the enemy in time of war., And the reason they do not find a motive entice them to stay in the field, only the low wages that do not make them willing to die for you."

"Well used are those cruelties (if it is permitted to speak well of evil) that are carried out in a single stroke, done out of necessity to protect oneself, and are not continued but are instead converted into the greatest possible benefits for the subjects. Badly used are those cruelties which. although being few at the outset, grow with the passing time instead of disappearing. Those who follow the first method can remedy their condition with God and with men?; the others cannot possibly survive."

"When a newly acquired State has been accustomed, as I have said, to live under its own laws and in freedom, there are three methods whereby it may be held. The first is to destroy it; the second, to go and reside there in person; the third, to suffer it to live on under its own laws, subjecting it to a tribute, and entrusting its government to a few of the inhabitants who will keep the rest your friends. Such a Government, since it is the creature of the new Prince, will see that it cannot stand without his protection and support, and must therefore do all it can to maintain him; and a city accustomed to live in freedom, if it is to be preserved at all, is more easily controlled through its own citizens than in any other way."

"When everyone feels free to tell you the truth, respect for you dwindles? A wise prince should take another course: choose wise men for your advisors, and allow only them the liberty of speaking the truth to the prince, and only on matters about which you ask, and nothing else. But you should question them about everything, listen patiently to their opinions, than form your own conclusions later."

"When Scipio became consul and was keen on getting the province of Africa, promising that Carthage should be completely destroyed, and the senate would not agree to this because Fabius Maximus was against it, he threatened to appeal to the people, for he knew full well how pleasing such projects are to the populace."

"We knew the extent to which lavished praise prince who saves his reign and live a straight life without guile. But the experiences of our time indicate that those princes who have achieved great works are not classifies Testament only slightly. They are able to affect the mind with its cunning. As they were able to overcome the Alomanah made ??of guiding them"

"war is not so to be avoided, but is only deferred to your disadvantage"

"We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either."

"Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please."

"War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans."

"When they depend upon their own resources and can employ force, they seldom fail. Hence it comes that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed."

"When you see a Minister thinking more of himself than of you, and in all his actions seeking his own ends, that man can never be a good Minister or one that you can trust. For he who has the charge of the State committed to him, ought not to think of himself, but only of his Prince, and should never bring to the notice of the latter what does not directly concern him."

"When you see to think more about their own interests server in yours, and inwardly seeking their own benefits in all things, that man will never be a good servant, and never able to trust him. '"

"Whence we may draw the general axiom, which never or rarely errs, that he who is the cause of another?s greatness is himself undone, since he must work either by address or force, each of which excites distrust in the person raised to power."

"Who creates the power of others to ruin, because such power comes from the cunning or force, and both are suspect whom became powerful."

"Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself."

"Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful."

"Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil."

"You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second."

"You ought never to suffer your designs to be crossed in order to avoid war, since war is not so to be avoided, but is only deferred to your disadvantage."