Machiavelli — "There is no surer way of holding an acquired state than by ruining it."
There is no surer way of holding an acquired state than by ruining it.
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More from Machiavelli
"A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests."
"Therefore a prince, not being able to use this virtue of liberality in such a way that it may be recognized, except to his cost, a wise prince ought not to mind the reputation of being a miser."
"It is not reason but necessity that makes men humble."
"The innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new."
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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.