Machiavelli — "If a prince wants to maintain his rule, he must learn how not to be virtuous, an…"
If a prince wants to maintain his rule, he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not, according to need.
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More from Machiavelli
"In the actions of men, and especially of princes, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies the means."
"A prudent man should always follow in the path of great men and imitate those who have been most excellent, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it."
"Injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavor of them may last longer."
"A prince who is not himself wise cannot be well advised."
"One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived."
About Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Florentine diplomat and political theorist whose The Prince (written 1513) became the founding text of political realism and gave us the adjective 'Machiavellian.' Closely associated with Francesco Guicciardini (fellow Florentine political analyst and historian). For an intellectual contrast, see Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch humanist and The Education of a Christian Prince author (1516) — Erasmus's princely-instruction manual was published three years after Machiavelli's, for the same European audience, and is the explicit Christian-virtue alternative to Machiavellian power-realism. The cleanest 'realism vs idealism' founding pairing in modern political theory.