| Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. | | | |
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| | | NUMBER: | 1449 |
| AUTHOR: | Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) |
| QUOTATION: | From this we learn that a wise prince sees to it that never, in order to attack someone, does he become the ally of a prince more powerful than himself, except when necessity forces him, as I said above. If you win, you are the powerful king’s prisoner, and wise princes avoid as much as they can being in other men’s power. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, The Prince, chapter 21, in Machiavelli: The Chief Works and Others, trans. Allan Gilbert, vol. 1, pp. 83–84 (1965). |
| SUBJECTS: | Power |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia | | WORKS: | Niccolo Machiavelli Collection | | |
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