Quotes About Strategy

You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second. It is therefore necessary to know well how to use both the beast and the man.

We're all players in a game. You're a player or a piece on the board, you move or you're moved. You play the game or the game plays you.

he who is the cause of another becoming powerful is ruined because that predominance has been brought about either by astuteness or else by force, and both are distrusted by him who has been raised to power.

Without doubt, princes become great when they overcome difficulties and hurdles put in their path. When fortune wants to advance a new prince... She creates enemies for him, making them launch campaigns against him so that he is compelled to overcome them and climb higher on the ladder that they have brought him. Therefore, many judge that a wise prince must skillfully fan some enmity whenever the opportunity arises, so that in crushing it he will increase his standing.

no es victoria verdadera la que se obtiene con armas ajenas.

These reflections prompt the question: is it better to be loved rather than feared, or vice versa? The answer is that one would prefer to be both but, since they don't go together easily, if you have to choose, it's much safer to be feared than loved. We

Whenever those states, which have been acquired as stated, have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you.

I believe that he will prosper most whose mode of acting best adapts itself to the character of the times; and conversely that he will be unprosperous, with whose mode of acting the times do not accord.

É necessário a um príncipe saber usar do animal com destreza, dentre todos ele deve escolher a raposa e o leão, pois o leão não pode defender-se de armadilhas, e a raposa é indefesa diante dos lobos; é preciso, pois ser raposa para conhecer as armadilhas e leão para afugentar os lobos - aqueles que simplesmente adotam o leão não entendem do assunto.

One can assess a prince's intelligence by looking at the men with whom he surrounds himself.

one should not be deterred from improving his possessions for fear lest they be taken away from him or another from opening up trade for fear of taxes;

He who has relied on Fortune less has maintained his position best.

Nale?y bowiem pamiÄ™ta?, ?e ludzi trzeba albo potraktowa? Å'agodnie albo wygubi?, gdy? mszczÄ… siÄ™ za bÅ'ahe krzywdy, za ci??kie zaÅ› nie mogÄ…. Przeto gdy siÄ™ krzywdzi czÅ'owieka, nale?y czyni? to w ten sposób, aby nie trzeba byÅ'o obawia? siÄ™ zemsty.

O utrzymaniu podbitych prowincji] Zostawi? im ich wÅ'asne prawa, czerpa? stamtÄ…d pewne dochody i stworzy? wewnÄ…trz rzÄ…d oligarchiczny, który by ci je utrzymaÅ' w przyja?ni.

Sono tanto semplici gli uomini, e tanto ubbidiscono alle necessità presenti, che colui che inganna, troverà sempre chi si lascerà ingannare.

although crimes may win an empire, they do not win glory.

And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art.

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.

E fu di tanta virtù, etiam in privata fortuna, che chi ne scrive, dice: quod nihil illi deerat ad regnandum praeter regnum.

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

He who has annexed them, if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind two considerations: the one, that the family of their former lord is extinguished; the other, that neither their laws nor their taxes are altered, so that in a very short time they will become entirely one body with the old principality.

But when states are acquired in a country differing in language, customs, or laws, there are difficulties, and good fortune and great energy are needed to hold them, and one of the greatest and most real helps would be that he who has acquired them should go and reside there.

He has only to take care that they do not get hold of too much power and too much authority, and then with his own forces, and with their goodwill, he can easily keep down the more powerful of them, so as to remain entirely master in the country.

From this a general rule is drawn, which never or rarely fails: that he who is the cause of another becoming powerful is ruined because that predominance has been brought about either by astuteness or else by force, and both are distrusted by him who has been raised to power.