Anghraine

“Whoever, therefore, deems it necessary in his new principality to secure himself against enemies, to win friends, to conquer by force or by fraud, to make himself loved and feared by the people, followed and revered by the soldiers, to destroy those who can or must do you harm, to transform old institutions with new measures, to be severe and gracious, magnanimous and liberal, to eliminate an untrustworthy army, to create a new one, to maintain the friendship of kings and princes in such a way that they must either help you with good grace or offend you with caution—such a person cannot find better examples to imitate than the actions of this man.”

—Niccolò Machiavelli, not pausing for breath, on Cesare Borgia in The Prince