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The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

Quote Summary
Niccolo Machiavelli reflects on the nature of promises and their inevitable breaking, emphasizing how they are shaped by the necessities of different times and circumstances.
Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli
Writer, Italian
Italian Renaissance writer and political philosopher
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It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. Read Summary

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot. Read Summary

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present. Read Summary

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command. Read Summary

Never was anything great achieved without danger. Read Summary

Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared. Read Summary

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Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more. Read Summary

When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred. Read Summary

Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil. Read Summary