Niccolo Machiavelli

So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.

Niccolo Machiavelli

So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.

Niccolo Machiavelli

That defense alone is effectual, sure and durable which depends upon yourself and your own valour.

Niccolo Machiavelli

That deliverance is of no avail which does not depend upon yourself; those only are reliable, certain, and durable that depend upon yourself and your valor.

Niccolo Machiavelli

That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty.

Niccolo Machiavelli

The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.

Niccolo Machiavelli

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.

Niccolo Machiavelli

The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body.

Niccolo Machiavelli

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