There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy.

He who becomes a Prince through the favour of the people should always keep on good terms with them; which it is easy for him to do, since all they ask is not to be oppressed

In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.

Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.

Half of these aren't even Machiavelli. Some are Plato, Thucydides etc....doesnt anyone check these?

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.

A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands.

Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.

It is better to act and repent than not to act and regret.

It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

He who builds on the people, builds on the mud

For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.

My view is that it is desirable to be both loved and feared; but it is difficult to achieve both and, if one of them has to be lacking, it is much safer to be feared than loved.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

One should never fall in the belief that you can find someone to pick you up.

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

I hold strongly to this: that it is better to be impetuous than circumspect; because fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her.

Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony

Therefore the best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses they will not save you if you are hated by the people.

Is it better to be loved or feared?

The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.

...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.

A prince is also esteemed when he is a true friend and a true enemy.

It's better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.

For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying

One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. Those who simply act like lions are stupid.

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

For, besides what has been said, it should be borne in mind that the temper of the multitude is fickle, and that while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.

All the States and Governments by which men are or ever have been ruled, have been and are either Republics or Princedoms.

He who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against;

And yet we cannot define as skillful killing one's fellow citizens, betraying one's friends, and showing no loyalty, mercy, or moral obligation. These means can lead to power, but not glory.

But when you disarm them, you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for want of loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you.

Occasionally words must serve to veil the facts. But let this happen in such a way that no one become aware of it; or, if it should be noticed, excuses must be at hand to be produced immediately.

For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.

Hence it comes that all armed prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed prophets have been destroyed.

God creates men, but they choose each other.

He who causes another to become powerful ruins himself, for he brings such a power into being either by design or by force, and both of these elements are suspects to the one whom he has made powerful.

Men intrinsically do not trust new things that they have not experienced themselves.

For whoever believes that great advancement and new benefits make men forget old injuries is mistaken.

Though fraud in all other actions be odious, yet in matters of war it is laudable and glorious, and he who overcomes his enemies by stratagem is as much to be praised as he who overcomes them by force.

A man who wishes to profess at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good.

You ought never to suffer your designs to be crossed in order to avoid war, since war is not so to be avoided, but is only deferred to your disadvantage.

Strange how someone you once loved can become just another person you once knew.

I believe that life is a prize, but to live doesn't mean you're alive.

You gave me strengh gave me hope for a lifetime.

Good advice I always hated, but lookin back it made me greater.

Once upon a time there lived a real bad bitch. The fuckin' end.