There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain and in the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to work well together.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

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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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