Machiavelli — "The promises of men are not to be relied on, unless they are made under such cir…"
The promises of men are not to be relied on, unless they are made under such circumstances that the promiser cannot break them without ruin.
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More from Machiavelli
"For there is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers than by letting men understand that to tell you the truth will not offend you."
"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are."
"The best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses, they will not save you if you are hated by the people."
"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."
"The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Alba, and Ostia, did not destroy them, but gave them their own laws and left them free, and they did not hold them without difficulty."
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.