Quotes About Prince

When everyone feels free to tell you the truth, respect for you dwindles… A wise prince should take another course: choose wise men for your advisors, and allow only them the liberty of speaking the truth to the prince, and only on matters about which you ask, and nothing else. But you should question them about everything, listen patiently to their opinions, then form your own conclusions later.

Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I conclude that since men love at their own will and fear at the will of the prince, a wise prince must build a foundation on what is his own, and not on what belongs to others.

Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.

for men do easily part with their prince upon hopes of bettering their condition, and that hope provokes them to rebel; but most commonly they are mistaken, and experience tells them their condition is much worse.

I say, then, that hereditary States, accustomed to the family of their Prince, are maintained with far less difficulty than new States, since all that is required is that the Prince shall not depart from the usages of his ancestors, trusting for the rest to deal with events as they arise.

The first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error which he made was in choosing them.

A prince, therefore, ought always to take counsel, but only when he wishes and not when others wish; he ought rather to discourage every one from offering advice unless he asks it; but, however, he ought to be a constant inquirer, and afterwards a patient listener concerning the things of which he inquired; also, on learning that any one, on any consideration, has not told him the truth, he should let his anger be felt.

I say that every prince ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel. Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this clemency.

For how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin than his preservation. A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case

A PRINCE, therefore, should have no care or thought but for war, and for the regulations and training it requires, and should apply himself exclusively to this as his peculiar province; for war is the sole art looked for in one who rules, and is of such efficacy that it not merely maintains those who are born Princes, but often enables men to rise to that eminence from a private station;

Therefore it must be inferred that good counsels, whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

For since a Prince by birth has fewer occasions and less need to give offence, he ought to be better loved, and will naturally be popular with his subjects unless outrageous vices make him odious.

IT IS customary for such as seek a Prince's favour, to present themselves before him with those things of theirs which they themselves most value, or in which they perceive him chiefly to delight.

Therefore, a wise prince must think of a method by which his citizens will need the state and himself at all times and in every circumstance. Then they will always be loyal to him.

Mientras que, en los Estados gobernados por un príncipe asistido por siervos, el príncipe goza de mayor autoridad: porque en toda la provincia no se reconoce soberano sine a él, y si se obedece a otro, a quien además no se tienen particular amor, sólo se lo hace per tratarse de un ministro y magistrado del principe.

A prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.

Concluyo, pues, volvieñdo a lo de ser temido y amado, que, dado que los hombres aman cuando es su voluntad y temen según la voluntad del príncipe, un príncipe sabio debe apoyarse en lo que es suyo y no en lo que es de otros; tan sólo debe ingeniárselas, como he dicho, para evitar el odio.

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.

si el que construye sobre el pueblo es un príncipe que sabe mandar y es valeroso, que no se amedrenta ante la adversidad, que no carece de otras aptitudes y que con su valor y sus instituciones mantiene despierto el ánimo de todos, nunca se encontrará engañado por el pueblo y se habrá procurado sólidos cimientos.

Those who strive to obtain the good graces of a prince are accustomed to come before him with such things as they hold most precious, or in which they see him take most delight; whence one often sees horses, arms, cloth of gold, precious stones, and similar ornaments presented to princes, worthy of their greatness.

A wise prince ought to observe some such rules, and never in peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity, so that if fortune chances it may find him prepared to resist her blows.

Quelli li quali per vie virtuose, simili a costoro, diventono principi, acquistono el principato con difficultà, ma con facilità lo tengano;

E chi le acquista, volendole tenere, debbe avere dua respetti: l'uno, che il sangue del loro principe antiquo si spenga; l'altro, di non alterare né loro legge né loro dazii; talmente che in brevissimo tempo diventa, con loro principato antiquo, tutto uno corpo.

Para la tradición moralista un buen príncipe desde el punto de vista político debía cumplir con cuatro virtudes centrales para todo hombre (prudencia, fortaleza, justicia y moderación) más una serie de virtudes específicamente principescas (como honestidad, magnanimidad o liberalidad). Se recomendaba además que la práctica política nunca entrara en conflicto con los principios morales.