511 Quotes by Niccolò Machiavelli

The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.

Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.

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

Women are the most charitable creatures, and the most troublesome. He who shuns women passes up the trouble, but also the benefits. He who puts up with them gains the benefits, but also the trouble. As the saying goes, there's no honey without bees.

A wise prince then...should never be idle in times of peace but should industriously lay up stores of which to avail himself in times of adversity so that when fortune abandons him he may be prepared to resist her blows.

The people resemble a wild beast, which, naturally fierce and accustomed to live in the woods, has been brought up, as it were, in a prison and in servitude, and having by accident got its liberty, not being accustomed to search for its food, and not knowing where to conceal itself, easily becomes the prey of the first who seeks to incarcerate it again.

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

Gold will not always get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can get you gold.

Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.