Quotes About Leadership

We're all players in a game. You're a player or a piece on the board, you move or you're moved. You play the game or the game plays you.

he who is the cause of another becoming powerful is ruined because that predominance has been brought about either by astuteness or else by force, and both are distrusted by him who has been raised to power.

Without doubt, princes become great when they overcome difficulties and hurdles put in their path. When fortune wants to advance a new prince... She creates enemies for him, making them launch campaigns against him so that he is compelled to overcome them and climb higher on the ladder that they have brought him. Therefore, many judge that a wise prince must skillfully fan some enmity whenever the opportunity arises, so that in crushing it he will increase his standing.

Because, if one is on the spot, disorders are seen as they spring up, and one can quickly remedy them; but if one is not at hand, they are heard of only when they are great, and then one can no longer remedy them.

These reflections prompt the question: is it better to be loved rather than feared, or vice versa? The answer is that one would prefer to be both but, since they don't go together easily, if you have to choose, it's much safer to be feared than loved. We

Whenever those states, which have been acquired as stated, have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you.

É necessário a um príncipe saber usar do animal com destreza, dentre todos ele deve escolher a raposa e o leão, pois o leão não pode defender-se de armadilhas, e a raposa é indefesa diante dos lobos; é preciso, pois ser raposa para conhecer as armadilhas e leão para afugentar os lobos - aqueles que simplesmente adotam o leão não entendem do assunto.

One can assess a prince's intelligence by looking at the men with whom he surrounds himself.

government should be elevated into a living moral force, capable of inspiring the people with a just recognition of the fundamental principles of society;

It ought to be remembered that there 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. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

He who has relied on Fortune less has maintained his position best.

Nale?y bowiem pamiÄ™ta?, ?e ludzi trzeba albo potraktowa? Å'agodnie albo wygubi?, gdy? mszczÄ… siÄ™ za bÅ'ahe krzywdy, za ci??kie zaÅ› nie mogÄ…. Przeto gdy siÄ™ krzywdzi czÅ'owieka, nale?y czyni? to w ten sposób, aby nie trzeba byÅ'o obawia? siÄ™ zemsty.

Men are more ready to offend one who desires to be beloved than one who wishes to be feared.

Skoro pot??ny cudzoziemiec wkracza do prowincji, natychmiast ??cz? si? z nim wszyscy ci, co s? w niej mniej pot??ni, kierowani zawi?ci? przeciw pot??niejszemu od siebie.

O utrzymaniu podbitych prowincji] Zostawi? im ich wÅ'asne prawa, czerpa? stamtÄ…d pewne dochody i stworzy? wewnÄ…trz rzÄ…d oligarchiczny, który by ci je utrzymaÅ' w przyja?ni.

for men change their rulers willingly, hoping to better themselves, and this hope induces them to take up arms against him who rules: wherein they are deceived, because they afterwards find by experience they have gone from bad to worse. This

in all cities, these two distinct parties are found, and from this it arises that the people do not wish to be ruled nor oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles wish to rule and oppress the people; and from these two opposite desires there arises in cities one of three results, either a principality, self-government, or anarchy. A

although crimes may win an empire, they do not win glory.

Let no one contradict my opinion by citing that trite proverb, claiming he who builds upon the people builds upon mud; for that is true when a private citizen makes them his foundation, and allows himself to believe that the common people will free him if he is oppressed by enemies or by the public officials.

And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art.

Therefore, a wise prince must think of a method by which his citizens will need the state and himself at all times and in every circumstance. Then they will always be loyal to him.

E fu di tanta virtù, etiam in privata fortuna, che chi ne scrive, dice: quod nihil illi deerat ad regnandum praeter regnum.

the authority that is seized by violence, not that given by votes, harms republics.

it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves.