Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding the past is key to predicting future events.
This quote by Machiavelli emphasizes the importance of studying history to gain insights into current and future situations. It suggests that human behavior and societal patterns repeat over time, and by analyzing past events, one can better understand present circumstances and even foresee potential future developments.
Themes
HistoryUnderstandingPredictingLearningPast
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a leadership conference could use this quote to emphasize the value of historical analysis in decision-making.
More from Niccolo Machiavelli
All quotes →For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
Many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his preservation.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
And here one must not that hatred is acquired just as much by means of good actions as by bad ones; and so, as I said above, if a prince wishes to maintain the state, he is often obliged not to be good; because whenever that group which you believe you need to support you is corrupted, whether it be the common people, the soldiers, or the nobles, it is to your advantage to follow their inclinations in order to satisfy them; and then good actions are your enemy.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
Similar quotes
The most melancholy of human reflections, perhaps, is that, on the whole, it is a question whether the benevolence of mankind does most good or harm.
Walter BagehotRead
Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.
Michel De MontaigneRead
No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
Our identities really are a constant negotiation between the story we tell about ourselves and the narrative our societies like to recite.
Thomas Chatterton WilliamsRead
You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics looks so petty.
Edgar MitchellRead
Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine By which alone the mortal heart is led Unto the thinking of the thought divine.
George SantayanaRead