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Start by following Niccolò Machiavelli.
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“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“Never was anything great achieved without danger.”
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“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“People should either be caressed or crushed. If you do them minor damage they will get their revenge; but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do. If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance.”
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“I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.”
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“Men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.”
― Discourses
― Discourses
“Because there are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
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“It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.”
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“How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are; and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.”
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“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.”
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“He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.”
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“Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”
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“Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“And here comes in the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both; but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.”
― The Prince
― The Prince
“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 initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ”
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