Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man (1923)
“A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent.”
Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 6; translated by Luigi Ricci
Original
…debbe un uomo prudente entrare sempre per vie battute da uomini grandi, e quelli che sono stati eccellentissimi, imitare…
Source: The Prince (1513)
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Niccolo Machiavelli 130
Italian politician, Writer and Author 1469–1527Related quotes
Source: Glamour: A World Problem (1950), The Six Rules of the Path (Rules of the Road)
“One that desires to excel should endeavour in those things that are in themselves most excellent.”
“With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.”
This is attributed to Addison in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993) with a citation of "Economy and Benevolence" in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments (1794) but that was a publication of a contemporary "Mr. Addison" in several volumes, and not the poet. Vol. III of that publication (in 1796), on page 205, does contain these lines, but as part of an anonymous ancecdote.
Misattributed
“The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XX Humorous Writings
“Not in vain oaths should prudent men believe,
But put their trust in actions.”
Olynthia, Fragment 4.
Source: The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge