Quotes from Niccolo Machiavelli

Çünkü gerçekten sahiplenebilmek için yak?p y?kmaktan baÅŸka bir çare de yoktur. Ve özgürce yaÅŸamaya al???k bir kenti ele geçiren biri eÄŸer o kenti yak?p y?kmazsa, kendisi o kent taraf?ndan yak?l?p y?k?lmay? bekliyor demektir.

He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must fall with the greatest loss

Quien propicia que otro se vuelva poderoso obra su propia ruina.

Pero cuando las ciudades o provincias están acostumbradas a vivir bajo un principe, y por la extinción de éste y su linaje queda vacante el gobierno, como por un lado los habitantes estfán habituados a obedecer y por otro no tienen a quién, y no se ponen de acuerdo para elegir a uno de entre ellos, ni saben vivir en libertad, y por último tampoco se deciden a tomar las armas contra el invasor, un principe puede fácilmente conquistarlas y retenerlas.

When the duke occupied the Romagna he found it under the rule of weak masters, who rather plundered their subjects than ruled them, and gave them more cause for disunion than for union, so that the country was full of robbery, quarrels, and every kind of violence; and so, wishing to bring back peace and obedience to authority, he considered it necessary to give it a good governor. Thereupon

Porque las ofensas deben inferirse de una sola vez para que, durando menos, hieran menos; mientras que los beneficios deben proporcionarse poco a poco, a fin de que se saboreen mejor.

Machiavelli was no facile phrasemonger; the conditions under which he wrote

war is not to be avoided, but is only to be put off to the advantage of others;

People in general judge more by the eyes than by the hands, for everyone can see, but few can feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are.

No sooner were they seated than soldiers issued from secret places and slaughtered Giovanni and the rest.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin by the great number who are not good.

The prince who holds a country differing in the above respects ought to make himself the head and defender of his less powerful neighbours, and to weaken the more powerful amongst them, taking care that no foreigner as powerful as himself shall, by any accident, get a footing there. And the usual course of affairs is that, as soon as a powerful foreigner enters a country, all the subject states are drawn to him, moved by the hatred which they feel against the ruling power.

you must know that there are two modes of fighting: one in accordance with the laws, the other with force. The first is proper to man, the second to beasts. But because the first, in many cases, is not sufficient, it becomes necessary to have recourse to the second: therefore, a prince must know how to make good use of the natures of both the beast and the man.

It ought to be remembered that 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.

There cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.

For a worldly man and compulsive womanizer, used to being at the frenetic heart of public life

for even whilst you exercise it you lose the power to do so, and so become either poor or despised, or else, in avoiding poverty, rapacious and hated.

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.

Having Come to Freedom, a Corrupt People Can with the Greatest Difficulty Maintain Itself Free

A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.

The Prince' is bestrewn with truths that can be proved at every turn. Men are still the dupes of their simplicity and greed, as they were in the days of Alexander VI. The cloak of religion still conceals the vices which Machiavelli laid bare in the character of Ferdinand of Aragon. Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be—and are ruined. In politics there are no perfectly safe courses; prudence consists in choosing the least dangerous ones.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

wish to acquire is in truth very natural and common, and men always do so when they can, and for this they will be praised not blamed; but when they cannot do so, yet wish to do so by any means, then there is folly and blame.

because the haves of this world cannot quietly inherit what is coming to them; lest they be treated now as they once treated others, they must keep an eye on the have-nots. To keep a step ahead of the have-nots the haves must think and behave like have-nots. They certainly cannot afford justice to the have-nots, nor can they waste time or money on sympathy.