…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived. - Niccolò Machiavelli

Concerning this, it should be noted that men must be either caressed or wiped out; because they will avenge minor injuries, but cannot do so for grave ones. Any harm done to a man must be of the kind that removes any fear of revenge.

Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.

Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be — and are ruined.