Machiavelli — "A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpo…"

A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and loyal; for, with a very few examples, he will be more merciful than those who, from excess of tenderness, allow disorders to arise, from whence spring murders and rapine; for these as a rule injure the whole community, while the executions carried out by the prince injure only individuals.
Machiavelli — Machiavelli Early Modern · The Prince, political philosophy

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"It is much safer to be feared than loved."

"Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."

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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.

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The Prince, Chapter XVII: Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether it is Better to be Loved or Feared

Date: 1532

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