Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

it is better to act and repent than not to act and regret.

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

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.

For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.

Always assume incompetence before looking for conspiracy.

Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

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.

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.

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

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

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

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.

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.

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.