Machiavelli — "Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge …"
Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries—for heavy ones they cannot.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Machiavelli
"When a prince has once made a reputation, he can easily overcome any enterprise, even if he has little strength."
"For where the very safety of the country depends upon the resolution to be taken, no considerations whatever of justice or injustice, humanity or cruelty, nor of glory or disgrace, should be allowed t…"
"It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity."
"In the actions of men, and especially of princes, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies the means."
"If a prince wants to maintain his rule, he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not, according to need."
About Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Florentine diplomat and political theorist whose The Prince (written 1513) became the founding text of political realism and gave us the adjective 'Machiavellian.' Closely associated with Francesco Guicciardini (fellow Florentine political analyst and historian). For an intellectual contrast, see Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch humanist and The Education of a Christian Prince author (1516) — Erasmus's princely-instruction manual was published three years after Machiavelli's, for the same European audience, and is the explicit Christian-virtue alternative to Machiavellian power-realism. The cleanest 'realism vs idealism' founding pairing in modern political theory.
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: deepseek
1 source checked