Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

Independence doesn't mean you decide the way you want.

When one has genuinely chosen a course for oneself it cannot be possible to hold another responsible for it.

I have never believed that man's freedom consisted in doing what he wants, but rather in never doing what he does not want to do.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

When you grow up your mother says, 'Wear rubbers or you'll catch cold.' When you become an adult you discover that you have the right not to wear rubbers and to see if you catch cold or not. It's something like that.

The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual.

The intuition of free will gives us the truth.

Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.

I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not. I'm really confused now.

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

Men are not free when they are doing just what they like. The moment you can do just what you like, there is nothing you care about doing.

Well you don’t have to do it.

Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves that necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded.

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

Being completely free to choose what to do is actually quite difficult

To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do; to most it means not to do what they do not want to do. It is perhaps true that those who can grow will feel free under any condition.

What work do I have to do then?" said Will, but went on at once, "No, on second thought, don't tell me. I shall decide what I do. If you say my work is fighting, or healing, or exploring, or whatever you might say, I'll always be thinking about it. And if I do end up doing that, I'll be resentful because it'll feel as if I didn't have a choice, and if I don't do it, I'll feel guilty because I should. Whatever I do, I will choose it, no one else.

No one chooses what does not rest with himself, but only what he thinks can be attained by his own act.

You were born free by accident. You live free by choice. To die free is your responsibility.

Man ultimately decides for himself! And in the end, education must be education towards the ability to decide

I make all my own decisions and I take full responsibility.

The best thing you can give someone is the freedom to make their own mind up - and then, if it's not working out 5 years later, you can give your opinion.

Control your own destiny or someone else will.

As you grow and mature, you will want and will earn more freedom to live your lives your way and to make your own choices. This you should do.

I'm never going to do something that I don't want to do, because I've been given the opportunity to not have to do that.