Niccolò Machiavelli Quotes

1469 – 1527

Florentine diplomat and political philosopher, author of 'The Prince' (1513) and 'Discourses on Livy'.

20 quotesAbout Niccolò Machiavelli on Wikipedia

“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Cunning and deceit will every time serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“The reason is easy to understand, for it is the common good and not private gain that makes cities great.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“No circumstance is ever so desperate that one cannot nurture some spark of hope.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is lord.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“One must never forget to look at the aim of a matter.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Fear of evil is greater than the evil itself.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“When evening comes, I return home and enter my study; on the threshold I take off my workday clothes, covered with mud and dirt, and put on the garments of court and palace.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“In judging policies we should consider the results that have been achieved through them rather than the means by which they have been executed.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Whenever men are not obliged to fight from necessity, they fight from ambition; which is so powerful in human breasts, that it never leaves them no matter to what rank they rise.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“It was the verdict of ancient writers that men afflict themselves in evil and weary themselves in the good, and that the same effects result from both of these passions.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Men never do good unless necessity drives them to it; but when they are free to choose and can do just as they please, confusion and disorder become rampant.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

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

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“I assert once again as a truth to which history as a whole bears witness that men may second their fortune, but cannot oppose it; that they may weave its warp, but cannot break it.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli