The prince machiavelli quotes

A prince... must learn from the fox and the lion... One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. Those who act simply as lions are stupid. So it follows that a prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honour his word when it places him at a disadvantage and when the reasons for which he made his promise no longer exist.

Nicolo Machiavelli's The Prince, reviled by many, may be the most important book ever written about Power and Leadership Check more at https://tech4sn.com/nicolo-machiavellis-the-prince-reviled-by-many-may-be-the-most-important-book-ever-written-about-power-and-leadership

Before all else, be armed.

"There is no other way of guarding against adulation, than to make people understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth. On the other hand, when everyone feels at liberty to tell you the truth, they will be apt to be lacking in respect to you." - Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince.

Machiavelli (c. 1469-1527) “A prince must also show himself a lover of merit, give preferment to the able, and honour those who excel in every art.” From The Prince (chapter 21) by Machiavelli, translated and printed by the Henry Regnery Company, 1948.

Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.