Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

You can't be loved for long if you're not feared.

Work is pushing matter around. Politics is pushing people around.

From this arises 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 supreme rulers are hardly known by their subjects. The lesser are loved and praised. The even lesser are feared. The least are despised.

I would rather you love me, but if not love, fear will do.

People tolerate those they fear further than those they love.

Authority is not a quality one person 'has', in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.

No one loves the man whom he fears.

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly.

Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.

The most powerful men were those who most effectively used the power of adult competence to enforce childish agreements.

Authority is something from which we are constantly subtracting, of which there remains always a residue, and which we attempt to make smaller and smaller.

Does not a man physically tremble under the mere look of a wild beast or fellow-man that is stronger than himself? Does not a woman redden all over when she feels her lover's eyes on her? How then should one doubt the mysterious power of one individual over another?

Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.

Parents learn the uses of power and its limits. They can insist on certain outward behavior but cannot change inner attitudes. They can require obedience but not goodness - and certainly not love.

The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.

It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

In life, particularly in public life, psychology is more powerful than logic.

My parents made it clear that I should never display even the slightest disrespect to individuals who had the power to let me skip a half grade or move into more challenging classes. While it was all right for me to know more about a topic than my sixth-grade teacher had ever learned, questioning her facts could only lead to trouble.

There are two fairly standard approaches to political power used by those who seek it. Some seek power with the assumption that the citizenry are the source of legitimacy and are to be treated with respect. Others concentrate on identifying whatever insecurities there are within the citizenry and on exploiting them.'

Society receives its momentum from power.

Those who fear men like laws.

You don’t need to admire power, but you must always, however grudgingly, respect and understand it.