Quotes from Niccolo Machiavelli

Nas?l manzara resmi yapanlar, daÄŸlar?n ve yüksek yerlerin yap?s?n? gözlemlemek için ovada alçak bir konumda duruyor ve alçak yerlerin yap?s?n? gözlemlemek için daÄŸlar?n tepesine ç?k?yorlarsa, ayn? ÅŸekilde, halklar?n yap?s?n? iyi tan?mak için prens olmak ve prenslerin yap?s?n? iyi tan?mak için de halktan birisi olmak gerekir.

it is far better to earn the confidence of the people than to rely on fortresses

Ecclesiastical princes alone possess states, and do not defend them; subjects, and do not govern them. And though their states are not defended they are not taken away from them; and their subjects, being without government, do not worry about it and neither can hope to overthrow it in favour of another. So these principalities alone are secure and happy.

The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms; and because you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.

why should one expect what had worked on one occasion to work on another? Machiavelli stressed that if the political culture of a community had changed—if it had become corrupt, or virtuous—then strategies that had once failed would now work, and vice versa.

Estas tropas pueden ser útiles y buenas para sus amos, pero para quien las llama son casi siempre funestas; pues

Perché li uomini offendono o per paura o per odio.

Los florentinos, que carecían de ejércitos propios, trajeron diez mil franceses para conquistar a Pisa; y esta resolución les hizo correr más peligros de los que corrieran nunca en ninguna época. El emperador de Constantinopla, para ayudar a sus vecinos, puso en Grecia diez mil turcos, los cuales, una vez concluida la guerra, se negaron a volver a su patria; de donde empezó la servidumbre de Grecia bajo el yugo de los infieles.

Se concluye de esto que todo el que no quiera vencer no tiene más que servirse de esas tropas, muchísimo más peligrosas que las mercenarias, porque están perfectamente unidas y obedecen ciegamente a sus jefes, con lo cual la ruina es inmediata; mientras que las mercenarias, para someter al príncipe, una vez que han triunfado, necesitan esperar tiempo y ocasión, pues no constituyen un cuerpo unido y, por añadidura, están a sueldo del príncipe. En

He had all the attributes of a king except a kingdom.

Cada uno ve lo que pareces ser; pero pocos comprenden lo que eres realmente

De aquí que sus concepciones de la historia y de la «naturaleza humana» constituyan los pilares teóricos del pensamiento maquiaveliano.

Por ello, todo príncipe prudente ha desechado estas tropas y se ha refugiado en las propias, y ha preferido perder con las suyas a vencer con las otras, considerando que no es victoria verdadera la que se obtiene con armas ajenas. No

Y sucede aquí lo mismo que dicen los médicos acerca de la tisis, que al comienzo del mal es fácil de curar y difícil de diagnosticar, pero, con el paso del tiempo, al no haber sido diagnosticada ni medicada desde el principio, se vuelve fácil de diagnosticar y difícil de curar.

There is nothing more to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its Success, than to take the lead in introduction of a new order of things.

E chi crede che ne' personaggi grandi e' benefizii nuovi faccino dimenticare le iniurie vecchie, s'inganna. Errò, adunque, el duca in questa elezione; e fu cagione dell'ultima ruina sua.

Ofreciéndose David a Saúl para combatir a Goliat, provocador filisteo, Saúl, para darle valor, lo armó con sus armas; pero una vez que se vio cargado con éstas, David las rechazó, diciendo que con ellas no podría sacar partido de sí mismo y que prefería ir al encuentro del enemigo con su honda y su cuchillo. En fin, sucede siempre que las armas ajenas o se caen de los hombros del príncipe, o le pesan, o le oprimen. Carlos

hailed the Florentine as the first modern thinker to have exposed the nature of political tyranny.

In a letter to Francesco Vettori of 18 March 1513, Niccolò gives us a vivid summary of his youth: 'I was born in poverty, and at an early age learned how to script rather than to thrive.' 1

I enter the ancient courts of rulers who have long since died. There I am warmly welcomed, and I feed on the only food I find nourishing, and was born to savor. I am not ashamed to talk to them, and to ask them to explain their actions. And they, out of kindness, answer me. Four hours go by without my feeling any anxiety. I forget every worry. I am no longer afraid of poverty, or frightened of death. I live entirely through

How one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.' (ch XV)

It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.

Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.