Against foreign powers, a prince can defend himself with good weapons and good friends; if he has good weapons, he will never lack for good friends.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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The prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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No circumstance is ever so desperate that one cannot nurture some spark of hope.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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Whenever men are not obliged to fight from necessity, they fight from ambition; which is so powerful in human breasts, that it never leaves them no matter to what rank they rise.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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Cunning and deceit will every time serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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It is easier for the prince to make friends of those men who were contented under the former government, and are therefore his enemies, than of those who, being discontented with it, were favourable to him and encouraged him to seize it.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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