Machiavelli — "It is much safer to be feared than loved."
It is much safer to be feared than loved.
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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."
"It is better to be a good prophet than a good poet."
"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally."
"The people, when they have a good leader, are not afraid to fight; and if they are not afraid, they are strong."
"For a man who wishes to make a profession of good in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good."
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.