He who has annexed them, if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind two considerations: the one, that the family of their former lord is extinguished; the other, that neither their laws nor their taxes are altered, so that in a very short time they will become entirely one body with the old principality.
Niccolo MachiavelliYou must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second.
Niccolo MachiavelliAnd when he is obliged to take the life of any one, to do so when there is a proper justification and manifest reason for it; but above all he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.
Niccolo MachiavelliIt is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.
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 MachiavelliTherefore, a prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest, and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them.
Niccolo Machiavelli