resemblance between Fortune and women and concludes that it is the bold rather than the cautious man that will win and hold them both. - Niccolò Machiavelli

The people, as Cicero says, may be ignorant, but they can recognize the truth and will readily yield when some trustworthy man explains it to them.

For, besides what has been said, it should be borne in mind that the temper of the multitude is fickle, and that while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion

...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.