Quotes from Machiavelli, Niccolò

Men desire novelty to such an extent that those who are doing well wish for a change as much as those who are doing badly.

Do you are laugh because you are successful or because another one is unfortunate?

It should be borne in mind that there is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through than initiating changes in a state's constitution. The innovator makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old order, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who would prosper under the new.

It is unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.

Violence must be inflicted once for all, people will then forget what it tastes like and so be less resentful.

Any injury we do to a man must be such that we need not fear his vengeance.

It is of the greatest important in this world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own strength and means; and he who knows that he has not a genius for fighting must learn how to govern by the arts of peace.

For, although one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives.

An unavoidable war is called justice. When brutality is the only option left it is holy

The dictatorship did not elate me, nor did exile depress me.

De modo geral, os homens julgam mais com os olhos do que com o tato: todos podem ver, mas poucos são capazes de sentir. Todos veem nossa aparência, poucos sentem o que realmente somos [...]

An unavoidable war is called justice. When brutality is the only option left it is holy