Quotes About Rulership

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.

And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget.

ALL STATES, ALL POWERS, THAT HAVE HELD AND HOLD RULE OVER MEN HAVE been and are either republics or principalities.

Bisognava che Ciro trovassi e' Persi malcontenti dello imperio de' Medi, e li Medi molli et effeminati per la lunga pace.

Por eso hay que concluir que los buenos consejos, vengan de quien vengan, han de nacer de la prudencia del príncipe, y no la prudencia del príncipe de los buenos consejos.

And above all things, a prince ought to live amongst his people in such a way that no unexpected circumstances, whether of good or evil, shall make him change; because if the necessity for this comes in troubled times, you are too late for harsh measures; and mild ones will not help you, for they will be considered as forced from you, and no one will be under any obligation to you for them.

Since any one who would act up to a perfect standard of goodness in everything, must be ruined among so many who are not good. It is essential, therefore, for a Prince who desires to maintain his position, to have learned how to be other than good, and to use or not to use his goodness as necessity requires.

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

The Prince before its first legal publication in English in 1640

so one has to be a prince to get to know the character of a people and a man of the people to know the character of a prince.

so in like manner to understand the People a man should be a Prince, and to have a clear notion of Princes he should belong to the People.

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.

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

Is it better to be loved or feared?

Nay, could their numbers countervail the stars, Or ever-drizzling drops of April showers, Or wither'd leaves that autumn shaketh down, Yet would the Soldan by his conquering power So scatter and consume them in his rage, That not a man should live to rue their fall.

USUMCASANE: To be a king, is half to be a god.

Quando reina a anarquia, qualquer um pode se fazer rei.

Machiavel a fait des petits. Louis Bonaparte en est un.

I shall be an autocrat, that's my trade and the good Lord will forgive me, that's his.

Just remember that the only question in a house is who is to rule. The rest is only dancing around that, trying not to look it in the eye.

By the time the seasons turned through four more reapings, he had been crowned king of Yudah. By the time I was counted a man, he had added the crown of the kingdom of Israel

Los hombres ambiciosos que afectan señoría en sus ciudades, ábrense en ellas rumbo mostrándose parciales de la muchedumbre, y halagándola con ciertos simulacros o apariencias de libertad.

Por maior que seja este império, ele não é mais que uma grande prisão e o imperador que detém as chaves dela é o seu carcereiro, mas os carcereiros não vivem muito melhor do que os prisioneiros.» Ou isto: «Os russos preocupam-se muito menos em ser civilizados do que em fazer crer que o são.»

Politics] is always a means of conquering others and exercising power over them.