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These opportunities, then, gave these men the chance they needed, and their great abilities made them recognize it.

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It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the ...more

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It is of the greatest important in this world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own strength and means; and he who knows that he ...more

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Those who believe that where great personages are concerned new favors cause old injuries to be forgotten deceive themselves.

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Without an opportunity, their abilities would have been wasted, and without their abilities, the opportunity would have arisen in vain.

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...no one should marvel at the ease with which Alexander [the Great] kept possession of Asia, or at the difficulties which others, like Pyrrhus and ma...more

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Considering thus how much honor is awarded to antiquity, and how many times—letting pass infinite other examples—a fragment of an ancient statue has b...more

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..it happens in all human affairs that we never seek to escape one mischief without falling into another. Prudence therefore consists in knowing how t...more

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Armour belonging to someone else either chops off you or weighs you down or is too tight

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Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore th...more

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In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.

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Again, a Prince should show himself a patron of merit, and should honour those who excel in every art. He ought accordingly to encourage his subjects ...more

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... On the whole, the best fortress you can have, is in not being hated by your subjects. If they hate you no fortress will save you...

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Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is need...more

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He who causes another to become powerful ruins himself, for he brings such a power into being either by design or by force, and both of these elements...more