quote · Words worth keeping
Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.
Approximate author period: c. 1498 AD · medieval
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Niccolo Machiavelli
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1498 AD · medieval
Approximate period for recorded attribution label Niccolo Machiavelli: recorded author lifetime 1469–1527. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1399 (checked 2026-10-08). The existing author record is niccolo-machiavelli; no author identity is bound and no quotation composition date or attribution is independently verified.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 493018; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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