Machiavelli — "To be feared is much safer than to be loved."

"A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests."

"Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries—for heavy ones they cannot."

"For the nature of men is such that they are much more bound by the benefits they confer than by those they receive."

"One change always leaves the way open for the introduction of another."

"Wise men say, and not without reason, that whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times."