Machiavelli — "Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the gre…"
Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number of men who are not good.
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More from Machiavelli
"It is necessary for a prince, if he wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case."
"There are three kinds of intellect: one which comprehends by itself; another that discerns what another comprehends; and a third which comprehends neither by itself nor by the showing of another."
"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the necessities of the moment that he who deceives will always find someone who will let himself be deceived."
"It is not reason but necessity that makes men humble."
"A man who is used to acting with caution, when circumstances require him to act with impetuosity, cannot change his nature."
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.