Machiavelli — "The innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditi…"
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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More from Machiavelli
"The prince who relies entirely on fortune is ruined when she changes."
"It is a common error among men to believe that the shortest way to conquer a thing is to try to obtain it by force."
"It is not the well-being of individuals, but the general good, that makes cities great."
"It is better to be impetuous than cautious, because Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to control her, it is necessary to beat and ill-use her."
"The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present."
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.