Niccolo Machiavelli Fortune Quotations

It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman.

Men may second fortune, but they cannot thwart her.

I hold strongly to this: that it is better to be impetuous than circumspect; because fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her.

It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent.

The world has always been the same; and there is always as much good fortune as bad in it.

...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.