Machiavelli — "The Roman state was ruined by the ambition of the people as much as by the ambit…"
The Roman state was ruined by the ambition of the people as much as by the ambition of the nobility.
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More from Machiavelli
"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."
"Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."
"If a prince wants to keep his state, he must learn how to be not good, and to use or not use this according to the necessity."
"It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver."
"It is not possible to provide against every inconvenience; but it is necessary to provide against the most important."
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.