Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelliwas an Italian Renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer. He has often been called the founder of modern political science. He was for many years a senior official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language. He was secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth3 May 1469
CityFlorence, Italy
CountryItaly
Niccolo Machiavelli quotes about
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.
A government which does not trust its citizens to be armed is not itself to be trusted.
How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.
It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman.
Appear as you may wish to be
Never was anything great achieved without danger.
I don't doubt that every prince would like to be both; but since it is hard to accomodate these qualities, if you have to make a choice, to be feared is much safer than to be loved. For it is a good general rule about men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, fearful of danger and greedy for gain....[love] is a link of obligation which men, because they are rotten, will break anything they think doing so serves their advantage; but fear involves dread of punishment, from which they can never escape.
Politics have no relation to morals.
It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.
Power is the pivot on which everything hinges. He who has the power is always right; the weaker is always wrong.
God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.