Niccolò Machiavelli

The vulgar are always taken by appearances, and the world is full of men who judge by appearances.

A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.

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

There are three kinds of brains: one understands by itself, another can understand when it is shown, and a third can understand neither by itself nor when it is shown.

Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by touch.

I desire to go to Hell, not to Heaven. In the infernal regions there are some noble and courageous spirits.

Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done, learns rather to bring about his own ruin than his preservation.

A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to ruin among so many who are not good.

Therefore it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong.

Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.

One must know how to disguise one's actions when necessary.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to ruin among so many who are not virtuous.

It is essential to know how to use both the fox and the lion.

Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her.

I have never felt able to endure Rome, that city of souls so prejudiced, so hypocritical, so given to formalism and routine.

The study of the past is the best way to predict the future.