Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.
Niccolo MachiavelliMen seldom rise from low condition to high rank without employing either force or fraud, unless that rank should be attained either by gift or inheritance.
Niccolo MachiavelliIt makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.
Niccolo MachiavelliIf you only notice human proceedings, you may observe that all who attain great power and riches, make use of either force or fraud; and what they have acquired either by deceit or violence, in order to conceal the disgraceful methods of attainment, they endeavor to sanctify with the false title of honest gains.
Niccolo Machiavelli