Machiavelli

Machiavelli (c. 1469-1527)

“The worst that a prince has to expect from a hostile people is to be abandoned, but from hostile nobles he has to fear not only desertion but their active opposition, and as they are more far-seeing and more cunning, they are always in time to save themselves and take sides with the one who they expect will conquer.”

  • From The Prince (chapter 19) by Machiavelli, translated and printed by the Henry Regnery Company, 1948.

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