Niccolò Machiavelli's Life Lessons Man Learn Too Late In Life

everyone sees what you appear to be few experience what you really are it is better to act and repent than not to act and regret since love and fear can hardly exist together if we must choose between them it is far safer to be feared than loved men should be either treated generously or destroyed because they take revenge for slight injuries for heavy ones they cannot if an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his Vengeance need not be feared men in general judge Moore from appearances than from reality all men have eyes but few have the gift of penetration 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 wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble and in choosing the Lesser evil make no small plans for they have no power to stir the soul where the willingness is great the difficulties cannot be great it is a common fault of men not to reckon on Storms and fair weather never was anything great achieved without Danger a prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent so that if he does not attain to their greatness at any rate he will get some tinge of it the first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him one should never fall in the belief that you can find someone to pick you up a battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours in the same way by losing one all the good things worked by you before become vain men intrinsically do not trust new things that they have not experienced themselves make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth develop the strength to do bold things not the strength to suffer the more sand has escaped from The Hourglass of our life the clearer we should see through it men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times men are driven by two principal impulses either by love or by fear there is no other way to guard yourself against flattery then by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you itcher creates few men Brave Industry and Training makes many he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony the best Fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people 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 everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened everything in this world in any Epoch as their replicas in antiquity necessity is what impels men to take action and once necessity is gone only rot and Decay are left a sign of intelligence is an awareness of One's Own ignorance of mankind we may say in general they are fickle hypocritical and greedy for gain there is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt it is not titles that honor men but men that honor titles there is no avoiding War it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy in conclusion the arms of others either fall from your back or they weigh you down or they bind you fast he who builds on the people Builds on the mud men will always deceive you unless they are kept Honest by constraint everyone around will Envy you if you tell the truth the truth which is profitable never let others interrupt you because you will lose respect beware of a man who interrupts you because he is trying to show you strength the vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar it's far better to earn the confidence of the people than to rely on fortresses he who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command men will not look at things as they really are but as they wish them to be and are ruined it is much safer to be feared than loved because love is perceived by the link of obligation which owing to the baseness of men is broken at every opportunity for their advantage but fear preserves You by a dread of punishment which never fails

Channel: Quotes

Views: 889,914

Keywords:

Id: DcD-9g2Yl64

Length: 8min 20sec (500 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2023