Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
Niccolo MachiavelliHow we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.
Niccolo MachiavelliSo far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.
Niccolo MachiavelliAnd it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.
Niccolo Machiavelli