Machiavelli — "No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until …"

"The Roman state was ruined by the ambition of the people as much as by the ambition of the nobility."

"For it can be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, fickle, feigners and dissemblers, shirkers of dangers, eager for gain."

"The common people are always caught by appearances and by the outcome of a thing; and in the world there are only the common people."

"The nature of men is such that they are much beholden to those who do them good, and they are much offended by those who do them evil."

"Men must either be caressed or annihilated; they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, but not for great ones."