Niccolò Machiavelli

The present times are better than the past, and the future will be better than the present.

Men are so simple and yield so readily to the necessities of the moment that he who deceives will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.

For it is a general rule that no state can ever be established without a good foundation, and the foundation of all states is good laws and good arms.

The more difficulties, the more glory.

A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and loyal; for, with a very few examples, he will be more merciful than those who, from excess of tenderness, allow disorders to arise, from whence spring murders and rapine; for these as a rule injure the whole community, while the executions carried out by the prince injure only individuals.

And as in all human things, when one evil is removed, another springs up, so in this, when the fear of the enemy was removed, the fear of the citizens began.

It is not possible to provide for everything, but it is necessary to provide for the most important things.

The Romans, in order to maintain their state, were obliged to make war, and to be always engaged in it.

Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start by assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.

Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

Never was anything great achieved without danger.

Men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.

Politics have no relation to morals.

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

There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.

A prince must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.

Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them in one stroke.

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for serious ones they cannot.

Whoever believes that new benefits will cause great devotion is mistaken.