Niccolo Machiavelli

Name: Machiavelli: The Prince
ISBN: 9780521349932

Philosopher

1469-05-03 – 1527-06-21

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian political philosopher, diplomat, and writer of the Renaissance. He is best known for The Prince and the Discourses on Livy. His work shaped later political theory and statecraft debates.

Books by Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince
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The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli - Large Print Edition
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Machiavelli: The Prince
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Quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli

Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
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A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.
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I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.
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War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.
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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
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One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.
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God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
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It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
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Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.
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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.
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The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
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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.
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Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
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If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
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Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
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Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
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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.
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There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
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Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
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A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
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