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. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.
Niccolo MachiavelliThe more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
Niccolo MachiavelliIt has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain as fame or power not founded on its own strength.
Niccolo MachiavelliA multitude is strong while it holds together, but so soon as each of those who compose it begins ro think of his own private danger, it becomes weak and contemptible.
Niccolo Machiavelli