Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared. – Niccolo Machiavelli
War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans. – Niccolo Machiavelli
Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself. – Niccolo Machiavelli
To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people. – Niccolo Machiavelli
In man thought and will prevail, and a desire for liberty and honor. He must act and work, toil and labor, and can preserve his dignity and standing in the world only by acting from principles and clear comprehensions. – Frederick A. Rauch, “Of Man,” Psychology; or, A View of the Human Soul: Includin