...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
Niccolo MachiavelliHe who is the cause of another's advancement is thereby the cause of his own ruin.
Niccolo MachiavelliIf the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.
Niccolo MachiavelliMany have dreamed up republics and principalities that have never in truth been known to exist; the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation.
Niccolo Machiavelli