Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his auth… - Niccolò Machiavelli

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

For a Monarchy readily becomes a Tyranny, an Aristocracy an Oligarchy, while a Democracy tends to degenerate into Anarchy. So that if the founder of a State should establish any one of these three forms of Government, he establishes it for a short time only, since no precaution he may take can prevent it from sliding into its contrary, by reason of the close resemblance which, in this case, the virtue bears to the vice.

One should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer, than to introduce new political orders. For the one who introduces them has as his enemies all those who profit from the old order, and he has only lukewarm defenders in all those who might profit from the new order.

He who believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is deceived.