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Machiavelli
"A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves"
"If men were all good, this advice would not be good, but since men are wicked and do not keep their promises to you, you likewise do not have to keep your promises to them."
"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil."
"It is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two."
"A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank."
Father of modern political theory
As a kid, he read a lot. His favorite book was by the famed historian Livy, The History of The Roman Republic
Machiavelli's first recorded involvement in the volatile Florentine political scene occurred in 1498, when he helped the political faction that deposed Girolamo Savonarola, then the dominant religious and political figure in Florence.
In 1512, Spanish forces invaded Italy and the Florentine political climate changed abruptly. The Medici for centuries the rulers of Florence, but exiled since 1494 seized the opportunity to depose Soderini and replace the republican government with their own autocratic regime.
On the restoration of the Medici, Machiavelli was involved in the downfall of his patron, Gonfaloniere Soderini. Arrested on a charge of conspiracy in 1513, and put to the torture, he disclaimed all knowledge of the alleged conspiracy. Although pardoned, he was obliged to retire from public life and devoted himself to literature.