Niccolo Machiavelli

Never was anything great achieved without danger.

Never was anything great achieved without danger.

The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good read more

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 laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow

States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have read more

States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them

A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him read more

A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced read more

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are