States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them
Niccolo MachiavelliTo know well the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to know well the nature of princes one must be of the people.
Niccolo MachiavelliA son could bear with great complacency, the death of his father, while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair.
Niccolo MachiavelliThere is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
Niccolo MachiavelliI 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.
Niccolo Machiavelli