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politics have no relation to morals
a prince who is not wise himself,
can not take wise advice
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A return to first principles in a republic
is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man.
His good example has such an influence
that the good men strive to imitate him,
and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
Never was anything great achieved without danger.
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For among other evils caused by being disarmed,
it renders you contemptible;
which is one of those disgraceful things
which a prince must guard against.
Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious,
and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.
Men should be either treated generously or destroyed,
because they take revenge for slight injuries
for heavy ones they cannot.
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Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs
that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment,
that he who will trick,
will always find another,
who will suffer to be tricked.
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A wise prince must rely upon what he & not others can control.
A prince must not abandon the methods of his ancestors,
but proves adaptable when unforeseen events occur.
The man who does not recognize ills at their inception,
does not have true wisdom.
Wars cannot be avoided
& can only be deferred to the advantage of others.
There are two ways of waging war,
by means of Law, by means of Force.
The first belongs to man, the second to animal.
Since the first is often insufficient,
it is necessary to resort to the second.
Since a Prince, then,
is required to know how to assume a beastlike nature,
he must adopt that of a fox, & that of a lion;
for a lion is defenseless against snares,
& a fox defenseless against wolves.
Hence, a Prince ought to be a fox is recognizing snares
& a lion in driving off wolves.
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in the actions of all men, one judges by the result.
The first opinion which one forms of a Prince,
& of his understanding, is by observingthe men he has around him;
when they are capable & faithful,
he may always be considered wise,
because he has known how to recognize the capable
& how to keep them faithful.
But when they are otherwise,
one cannot form a good opinion of him,
for the prime error which he made,
was choosing them.
A Prince gains esteem when he acts as a true ally or a true enemy,
that is, when he declares himself openly
for or against one of two conflicting parties.
A policy that is always better than neutrality.
A Prince should avoid joining forces
with someone more powerfull than himself
for the purpose of attacking another,
unless necessity compels him to do so.
For by winning he then becomes the prisoner of his ally,
a Prince should avoid being left at the mercy of someone else.
And let no State suppose that it can choose sides with complete safety.
It had better recognise that it will always have to choose between risks,
for that is the order of things.
We never flee one peril without falling into another.
If you have reason to fear the victor,
you will surely become his prey,
to the satisfaction & joy of the losing party.
The you will have no one to defend you and no one to offer you refuge.
The victor will not have a certain ally,
the loser will not take you in because you were unwilling to risk yourself on his behalf.
WITHOUT FRIENDSHIP NOR HONOR,
YOU WILL BECOME THE PRIZE OF THE VICTOR.
Men are always opposed to ventures In which they foresee difficulties
& it will not seem easy to attack a prince
who has kept his city vigorously strong
& is not hated by his people.
A Prince must never appear to be anything but the very soul
of clemency, faithfulness, frankness, humanity & religion
to all who see & hear him.
But of all the qualities he must seem to have,
none is more important than the last.
N. Machiavelli
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