Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.
Niccolo MachiavelliFor the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.
Niccolo MachiavelliSeverities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.
Niccolo MachiavelliStates that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them
Niccolo Machiavelli