Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

In short, Roberto privately concluded, if you would avoid wars, never make treaties of peace.

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.

War has rules, mud wrestling has rules - politics has no rules.

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second.

Appeasement does not work. As was the case in the 1930s, we see in Saddam Hussein an aggressive dictator threatening his neighbors.

Ukraine is the instrument for Russia to test the West's 'red lines'

Going to war is an easy decision.

It was an old lesson learned by governments: that war solves problems of control.

Politics and war are remarkably similar situations.

Whoever wants peace among nations must seek to limit the state and its influence most strictly.

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

We all know that in war the political and military factors have to complement each other.

I'm just very wary that once you start military operations in any country, it's very difficult to predict what the outcome is.

Foreign interventions always end badly.

Preventing a war is tantamount to winning a war.

In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war.

What should I have known or written had I been a quiet, mercantile politician or a lord in waiting? A man must travel, and turmoil, or there is no existence.

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.

War is failure of diplomacy.

This president failed so miserably in diplomacy that we are now forced to war.