Best Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes About Power, Human Nature, Prince, Friendship, Leadership, Love, Change, War, Politics, Fear & Success! The Italian historian, political theorist, diplomat, author, and philosopher Niccolo di Bernardo Machiavelli was a writer and philosopher. He was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy, during a period when Italy was split into four competing city-states and, as a result, was at the mercy of larger governments across the rest of Europe. He was the son of the wealthiest merchant family.
Indeed, Machiavelli is frequently regarded as setting the basis of contemporary political thought. The term ‘Machiavellian’ is commonly used to characterize someone willing to use any means required to achieve his goals. Throughout his 14-year career as a Florentine official, he developed his political views while working for the Second Chancery of the Florentine Republic.
One of his most renowned works is called “The Prince,” and it is here that he set forth the rules for kingly conduct in war, politics, and the diplomatic arena. Up to this day, many people consider “The Prince” to be a must-read for would-be diplomats who want to learn more about diplomacy. A poet, historian, and musician, Machiavelli’s life also included many other pursuits than his writing. However, he is best famous for his work as a political theorist. “
On June 21, 1527, he passed away. His last resting place is in Florence’s Santa Croce Cathedral, which he was forbidden from visiting during his lifetime. Since his death, many of his remarks have found their way into popular culture. Modern political philosophy is said to have its roots in Machiavelli’s work.
Best Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
1. “Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
2. “Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
3. “Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
4. “Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
5. “One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
6. “Men intrinsically do not trust new things that they have not experienced themselves.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
7. “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
8. “Politics have no relation to morals.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
9. “It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
10. “Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
11. “Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries – for heavy ones they cannot.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
12. “Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
13. “Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
14. “It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
15. “A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
16. “The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
17. “There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
18. “The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
19. “Men never do good unless necessity drives them to it; but when they are free to choose and can do just as they please, confusion and disorder become rampant.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
20. “There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
21. “Never was anything great achieved without danger.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
22. “It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
23. “The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
24. “We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
25. “One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
26. “The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
27. “The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
28. “Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
29. “Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
30. “Appear as you may wish to be.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
