I say that every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

Whenever men are not obliged to fight from necessity, they fight from ambition; which is so powerful in human breasts, that it never leaves them no matter to what rank they rise.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

Cunning and deceit will every time serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

In the past decade, the hope that the European Union could win some measure of military or financial independence from America has proved illusory. Instead, the continent has slid into ever deeper dependence on the United States. Yet such a drift will accelerate rather than halt the decline European Union leaders bemoan; bulk buying American weapons and energy, for instance, will not make European industry world leading again.
~ Anton Jäger via The New York Times

:::

Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

The prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::

It is with good reason that the economic historian Adam Tooze has castigated European Union technocrats as “the Taliban of neoliberalism” for their intransigent attachment to market principles in an age that has declared them obsolete. Jettisoning this dogma is crucial; loosening the fiscal rules for member states would facilitate economic catch-up, on the back of a serious strategy of public investment.
~ Anton Jäger via The New York Times

:::

Against foreign powers, a prince can defend himself with good weapons and good friends; if he has good weapons, he will never lack for good friends.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

:::