So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied. – Niccolo Machiavelli
The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes. – Niccolo Machiavelli
War is just when it is necessary arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms. – Niccolo Machiavelli
Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear. – Niccolo Machiavelli
By avarice and selfishness, and a groveling habit, from which none of us is free, of regarding the soil as property, or the means of acquiring property chiefly, the landscape is deformed, husbandry is degraded with us, and the farmer leads the meanest of lives. He knows Nature but as a robber. – Henry David Thoreau