Best Machiavelli inspiring image Quotes and excerpts from his the prince book

“From this one can derive a general rule which rarely, if ever, fails: that anyone who is the cause of another becoming powerful comes to ruin himself; because that power has been brought about by him either through cunning or by force; and both of these two qualities are suspect to the one who has become powerful.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experiences what you really are.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince


“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”
― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince


“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince


“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”
― Machiavelli Niccolo, The Prince

“Knowledge doth come of learning well retained, Unfruitful else,”
― Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince



“above all things, he must keep his hands off the property of others because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Besides,”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“... War is the sole art looked for in one who rules...”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“To be brief, I say that since Fortune changes and men stand fixed in their old ways, they are prosperous so long as there is congruity between them, and the reverse when there is not. Of this, however, I am well persuaded, that it is better to be impetuous than cautious. For Fortune is a woman who to is kept under must be beaten and roughly handled, and we see that she suffers herself to be more readily mastered by those who so treat her than by those who are timider in their approaches.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince


“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.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince




“Injuries, therefore, should be inflicted all at once, that their ill savour being less lasting may the less offend; whereas, benefits should be conferred little by little, that so they may be more fully relished.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince


“And the usual course of affairs is that, as soon as a powerful foreigner enters a country, all the subject states are drawn to him, moved by the hatred that they feel against the ruling power.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince





“exactly to those paths which others have taken, or attain to the virtues of those whom they would resemble, the wise man should always follow the roads that have been trodden by the great, and imitate those who have most excelled, so that if he cannot reach their perfection, he may at least acquire something of its savour.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
“...the scepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have actually had personal experience of them.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“It is necessary’, he writes, for a prince to learn ‘how not to be good’ (Ch. XV). Machiavelli’s wording on this matter is extremely precise: a man who wants ‘to profess goodness at all times’ will inevitably fail because he is surrounded by many unscrupulous men. Hence, ‘it is necessary for a prince who wishes to maintain himself to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge or not to use it according to necessity" 
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince




“... When Princes devote themselves rather to pleasure than to arms, they lose their dominions.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“... If in other respects the old condition of things be continued, and there be no discordance in their customs, men live peaceably with one another...”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“Princes should devolve on others those matters that entail responsibility, and reserve to themselves those that relate to grace and favour.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“... Physicians tell us of hectic fever, that in its beginning it is easy to cure, but hard to recognize; whereas, after a time, not having been detected and treated at the first, it becomes easy to recognize but impossible to cure. And so it is with State affairs.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince




“And there is nothing wastes so rapidly as liberality, for even whilst you exercise it you lose the power to do so, and so become either poor or despised, or else - in avoiding poverty - rapacious and hated. And a leader should guard himself, above all things, against being despised and hated; and liberality leads you to both. Therefore it is wiser to have a reputation for austerity which brings reproach without hatred than to be compelled through seeking a reputation for liberality to incur a name for rapacity which begets reproach with hatred.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“But in republics, there is more vitality, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance, which will never permit them to allow the memory of their former liberty to rest so that the safest way is to destroy them or to reside there.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“I certainly think that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force; and it can be seen that she let's herself be overcome by these rather than by those who proceed coldly. And therefore, like a woman, she is a friend to the young, because they are less cautious, fiercer, and master her with greater audacity”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince






“that men, thinking to better their condition, are always ready to change masters, and in this expectation will take up arms against any ruler; wherein they deceive themselves, and find afterwards by experience that they are worse off than before.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince





“the prince who relies entirely on fortune is lost when it changes. I believe also that he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times, and that he whose actions do not accord with the times will not be successful. Because men are seen, in affairs that lead to the end which every man has before him, namely, glory and riches, to get there by various methods; one with caution, another with haste; one by force, another by skill; one by patience, another by its opposite; and each one succeeds in reaching the goal by a different method. One”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince



“A general rule is drawn which never or rarely fails: that he who is the cause of another becoming powerful is ruined; because that predominancy has been brought about either by astuteness or else by force, and both are distrusted by him who has been raised to power.”
― W.K. Marriott, The Prince







“... If instead of colonies you send troops, the cost is vastly greater, and the whole revenues of the country are spent in guarding it so that the gain becomes a loss, and much deeper offence is given since in shifting the quarters of your soldiers from place to place the whole country suffers hardship, which as all feel, all are made enemies and enemies who remaining, although vanquished, in their own homes, have the power to hurt. In every way, therefore, this mode of defence is as disadvantageous as that by colonizing is useful.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli,

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