Machiavelli — "It is not fortune, but their own indolence, that causes men to abandon themselve…"
It is not fortune, but their own indolence, that causes men to abandon themselves to their fate.
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More from Machiavelli
"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."
"Men are always more easily deceived when they are trying to deceive others."
"It is better to be impetuous than cautious, because Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to control her, it is necessary to beat and ill-use her."
"It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity."
"Men must either be caressed or annihilated; they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, but not for great ones."
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.