Machiavelli Quotes

Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.

Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.

Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.

I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.

If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.

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.

It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.

Never was anything great achieved without danger.

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.

One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.

One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.

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.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

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.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.

Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.