The Prince

By Nicolo Machiavelli QUOTATION: A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 18 (1514).

QUOTATION: A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 15 (1514).

QUOTATION: For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 14 (1514).

QUOTATION: Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 8 (1514).

QUOTATION: There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 3 (1514).

QUOTATION: Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 17 (1514).

QUOTATION: States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 4 (1514).

QUOTATION: It should be noted that when he seizes a state the new ruler ought to determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He should inflict them once and for all, and not have to renew them every day.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 8 (written 1513-1514, published 1532), trans. by George Bull (1961).

QUOTATION: 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.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 15 (1514).

QUOTATION: 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.
ATTRIBUTION: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince, ch. 17 (written 1513-1514, published 1532), trans. by George Bull (1961).

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