« All Politics Quotes · Niccolo Machiavelli's Page
Politics Quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli
- He who has annexed them [some principalities], if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind two considerations: the one that the…
- ....those who become princes through their skill acquire the pricipality with difficulty, buy they hold onto it with ease.
- ....it cannot be called ingenuity to kill one's fellow citizens, to betray friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; by these means one…
- ....nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.
- ....for friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the…
- Politics have no relation to morals.
- If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
- Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
- He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
- The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
- There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in…
- Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
- There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt.
- Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
- Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
- The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good…
- Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the…
- Each candidate behaved well in the hope of being judged worthy of election. However, this system was disastrous when the city had become corrupt. For…
More Politics Quotes
- The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution. — Hannah Arendt
- No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has… — Hannah Arendt
- Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being. — Hannah Arendt
- Under every stone lurks a politician. — Aristophanes
- Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. — Aristotle
- In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of… — Aristotle
- A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler… — Aristotle
- Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. — Aristotle
- Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness. — Aristotle
- Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms. — Aristotle
- Man is by nature a political animal. — Aristotle
- Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics. — Aristotle