Niccolo Machiavelli Way Quotations

How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.

There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.

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

They have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit.

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

No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have.

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.

And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.

A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.

Power is the pivot on which everything hinges. He who has the power is always right; the weaker is always wrong.