Niccolo Machiavelli citáty

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„Prvou metódou, ako odhadnúť inteligenciu vládcu, je pozrieť sa na mužov, ktorých má okolo seba.“

„Muži vo všeobecnosti súdia viac podľa výzoru ako podľa skutočnosti. Všetci ľudia majú oči, ale len málo z nich má dar prenikania do hĺbky.“

„Bez hrozby nebezpečenstva sa nikdy nedosiahlo nič veľké.“

„Ak sa má človeku ublížiť, malo by to byť také vážne, aby sa nebolo treba obávať jeho pomsty.“

„Základnou ľudskou slabosťou je, že človek nepredvída búrku, keď je pekné počasie.“

„Všetci ľudia sú zlí, kým ich potreba neprivedie k tomu, aby boli dobrí.“

„…v ľude je tým menej zbožnosti, čím bližšie k sídlu rímskej cirkvi býva.
Kniha I, Kapitola 12“

„Každý vie, ako veľmi vladára ctí, keď drží dané slovo, žije pravdovravne a bez úskokov. Naša dnešná skúsenosť nás však učí niečo iné: veľké veci dosiahli práve tí, čo o dané slovo nedbali a prefíkanosťou si dokázali opantať ľudí a nakoniec premohli tých, čo si zakladali na svedomitosti.“

„Ľudia sú takí prostorekí a toľko sa pachtia za tým, čo práve potrebujú, že kto chce klamať, vždy nájde niekoho, kto sa oklamať dá.“

„Nenávisť vyvoláme dobrým skutkom práve tak ako zlým.“

„Obráť sa čelom k svojmu osudu. Buď sa zlu vyhni - a ak sa mu nemôžeš vyhnúť, znášaj ho ako muž.“

„Ani v jednej veci, ktorú kedy človek urobil alebo vymyslel, nemožno odstrániť žiadne zlo bez toho, aby pritom nevzniklo hneď zlo iné.“

„Múdry politik nikdy nedrží dané slovo, pokiaľ by mu mal byť vlastný sľub na škodu, alebo keď pominú okolnosti, za ktorých svoje slovo dal.“

„Najláskavejšie zo všetkých stvorení sú ženy, a najnepríjemnejšie tiež.“

„Trest je ako jed, ktorého lekár použije, keď inak nemôže liečiť.“

„Človek nemá nikdy padať na zem, len pretože verí, že ho niekto zdvihne.“

„Kde ľud robí dobrotu bez zákonov, tam netreba zákony. Ak však prestane tento dobrý zvyk, hneď sú potrebné zákony.“

„Lev sa nedokáže sám uchrániť pred pascami a líška sa sama neobráni pred vlkmi. Preto treba byť líškou aby si rozpoznal pasce a levom, aby si odstrašil vlkov.
Kapitola 17“

„A preto všetci ozbrojení proroci zvíťazili a všetci neozbrojení proroci boli zničení.
Kapitola 6“

„Kto kreslí krajinky a chce si urobiť predstavu o vrchoch a vyvýšeninách, postaví sa na nížinu, ak si chce urobiť predstavu o nížine, vyjde hore na vrchy. Podobne treba byť vladárom, aby človek dobre poznal povahu národov a človekom z ľudu, aby dobre poznal povahu vladárov.“

„Lekári vravievajú o suchotách: na začiatku sa ľahko liečia, no ťažko rozpoznávajú, ale ak ich nerozpoznáme a neliečime hneď zo začiatku, neskôr už márne spoznávame ich jasné príznaky. So štátom je to tak isto; kto spozná jeho neduhy s dostatočným predstihom, rýchlo sa ich zbaví. Kto sa však spočiatku o ne nestará a dovolí im narásť natoľko, až ich vidí každý, ten na ne už nenájde liek.“

„V politice, kde není odvolávacího soudu, soudí člověk podle výsledku.“

„Vladárovi nikdy nechýba legitímny dôvod na to, aby porušil svoj sľub.
Kapitola 18“

„… základom vojny nie je zlato, ale dobrí vojaci.“

„Schopný vládca nemyslí ani v mieri na nič iného, než ako povedie nasledujúcu vojnu.“

„Novátor má nepriateľov medzi tými, ktorí sa uspokoja so starými zákonmi a má len váhavých obhajcov v tých, ktorí dúfajú, že novými zákonmi získajú.“

„Osud je len prostredím, súhrnom podmienok v ktorých človek musí konať, osud rozhoduje o polovici našich skutkov ale necháva nám voľnú ruku nad druhou polovicou.“

„Tak je to aj s osudom, ukazuje svoju moc tam kde niet ochrannej sily svojou zúrivosťou doráža tam kde vie, že niet hrádzi a hradieb ktoré by ju skrotili.“

„Vládca rozhodne nemusí mať všetky dobré vlastnosti, ale mal by vedieť vzbudiť dojem, že ich má. Keď ich má, je krajne nežiaduce, aby sa nimi za všetkých okolností riadil.“

„Ctižiadosť je tou najsilnejšou vášňou v ľudských prsiach. Nech dosiahneme akokoľvek vysoko, nikdy nie sme spokojní.“

„Dobrá rada nerobí dobrého vládcu, ale presne naopak, múdry vládca je pôvodcom a príčinou všetkých dobrých rád.“

„Je nemožné presvedčiť človeka, ktorý má pri svojom konaní šťastie, že by konal lepšie, keby svoje konanie zmenil. Takto sa mení ľudské šťastie - menia sa časy, avšak človek svoje chovanie nezmení.“

“A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.”

“A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers. From the latter he is defended by being well armed and having good allies, and if he is well armed he will have good friends, and affairs will always remain quiet within when they are quiet without, unless they should have been already disturbed by conspiracy; and even should affairs outside be disturbed, if he has carried out his preparations and has lived as I have said, as long as he does not despair, he will resist every attack.”

“Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.”

“God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.”

“The first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and 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 in choosing them.”

“A man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil.”

“Such-like deaths, which are deliberately inflicted with a resolved and desperate courage, cannot be avoided by princes, because any one who does not fear to die can inflict them.”

“In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.”

“War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.”

“I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason and supervision for adulation is lacking.”

“One must never forget to look at the aim of a matter.”

“Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.”

“The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.”

“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.”

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

“No circumstance is ever so desperate that one cannot nurture some spark of hope.”

“When Scipio became consul and was keen on getting the province of Africa, promising that Carthage should be completely destroyed, and the senate would not agree to this because Fabius Maximus was against it, he threatened to appeal to the people, for he knew full well how pleasing such projects are to the populace.”

“To understand the nature of the people it needs to be a prince, and to understand that of princes it needs to be of the people.”

“So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.”

“It was the verdict of ancient writers that men afflict themselves in evil and weary themselves in the good, and that the same effects result from both of these passions. For 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. The reason is that nature has so created men that they are able to desire everything but are not able to attain everything: so that the desire being always greater than the acquisition, there results discontent with the possession and little satisfaction to themselves from it. From this arises the changes in their fortunes; for as men desire, some to have more, some in fear of losing their acquisition, there ensues enmity and war, from which results the ruin of that province and the elevation of another.”

“The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body.”

“It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.”

“That which is good for the enemy harms you, and that which is good for you harms the enemy.”

“A prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice.”

“Well-ordered states and wise princes have taken every care not to drive the nobles to desperation, and to keep the people satisfied and contented, for this is one of the most important objects a prince can have.”

“He who believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is deceived.”

“In judging policies we should consider the results that have been achieved through them rather than the means by which they have been executed.”

“I assert once again as a truth to which history as a whole bears witness that men may second their fortune, but cannot oppose it; that they may weave its warp, but cannot break it. Yet they should never give up, because there is always hope, though they know not the end and more towards it along roads which cross one another and as yet are unexplored; and since there is hope, they should not despair, no matter what fortune brings or in what travail they find themselves.”

“Finis sanctiflcat media ”