Quotes About Statecraft

In The Prince Machiavelli mounts two distinct lines of intellectual and political attack, one against the baseness of Medicean statecraft, the other against the too-strict Ciceronian conception of politics. Against both traditions, he elaborates a new 'art of the state'. He openly declares himself to be an expert in this art.

Concluiré afirmando tan sólo que el príncipe necesita tener al pueblo de su parte; de lo contrario, no tendrá remedio alguno en la adversidad. Nabis, príncipe de los espartanos, resistió el asedio de toda Grecia y de un victoriosísimo ejército romano, y defendió contra todos ellos su patria y su Estado; llegado el peligro le bastó con cuidarse de unos pocos, lo cual no le habría bastado de haber tenido al pueblo como enemigo.

Politics have no relation to morals.

Ma, quando si acquista stati in una provincia disforme di lingua, di costumi e di ordini, qui sono le difficultà; e qui bisogna avere gran fortuna e grande industria a tenerli; et uno de' maggiori remedii e più vivi sarebbe che la persona di chi acquista vi andassi ad abitare.

Nè creda mai alcuno Stato poter pigliare partiti sicuri; anzi pensi d'avere a prenderli tutti dubbi; perchè si trova questo nell'ordine delle cose, che mai si cerca fuggire uno inconveniente, che non s'incorra in un altro: ma la prudenza consiste in saper cognoscere la qualità degli inconvenienti, e prendere il manco tristo per buono.

In exemplis ci sono li Spartani e li Romani. Li Spartani tennono Atene e Tebe creandovi uno stato di pochi; tamen le riperderono. Romani, per tenere Capua Cartagine e Numanzia, le disfeciono, e non le perderono

príncipes da Itália

Zealous statesmen perhaps did more mischief than anything in the Galaxy--with the possible exception of procrastinating soldiers. That could indicate the fundamental difference between statecraft and war.

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.

But they learned to their sorrow that their enemies could not be defeated by military might alone. Vietnam was the most bitter lesson: it was a political war, and it could not be won by force of arms. American leaders, at least some of them, would come to understand that victory or defeat in political warfare depended less on American power and statecraft than on the spirit of the people in the lands where they were waged.

Firtash was the Ukrainian middleman for Gazprom, the Russian state-run natural gas giant. Putin used the company as an instrument of statecraft and an engine of corruption. Firtash bought gas from Gazprom at a steep discount. He marked it up threefold when he sold it to Ukraine, pocketing $3 billion and paying pro-Russian politicians, chiefly Yanukovych, to do the Kremlin's bidding. Through the oligarch's largesse, the president paid Manafort his millions.

Good character does not assure worldly success, or triumph in statecraft, but it does provide firm grounding in victory and consolation in failure.

I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty...an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft.

The Papal throne at this time was occupied by Innocent III, one of the greatest of the medieval Popes, renowned for his statecraft and diplomacy, and intent on raising to its height the temporal power of the Church. The dispute between John and the monastery of Canterbury over the election to the Archbishopric offered Innocent the very chance he sought for asserting Papal authority in England.

For a modern state there are cheaper and less risky means of coercion, sometimes known as economic statecraft or geoeconomics. China has become the world's master practitioner. Geoeconomics can be defined as the deployment of economic punishments and rewards to coerce nations to adopt preferred policies.

To those who have exhausted statecraft, nothing remains but the realm of pure thought.

Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.

Adelaide played statecraft with all the guile and passion that she put into her other games, and Becky began to realize that perhaps she had been preparing for this with every throw of the dice, every move of a chess piece.

Advise the ruler to govern the state as one cooks a small fish - that is, don't turn it so often in the pan that it disintegrates

The ideal situation for any state is to experience sharp economic growth while its rivals' economies grow slowly or hardly at all.

the Left has repeatedly mistaken statecraft for politics by its persistent failure to understand that the two are not only radically different but exist in radical tension—in fact, opposition—to each other.

make the House of Commons a cage for 500 parrots and apes, and complain of the decadence of oratory and of statecraft 1 And, indeed," he added with a grim chuckle, "the parrots and apes would more nearly resemble the politicians they would displace, than do the players of our day resemble the art which they affect to represent.