And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request …

Niccolo Machiavelli
255 citations
And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined. ✨ Niccolo Machiavelli (1979). The Portable Machiavelli, p.108, Penguin
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I am firmly convinced, therefore, that to set up a republic which is to last a long time, the way to set about it is to constitute it as Sparta and Venice were constituted; to place it in a strong po … ▶
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