"Whoever desires to found a state and..." - Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli

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

“Only those means of security are good, are certain, are lasting, that depend on yourself and your own vigor.”

“The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.”

“Most men unconsciously judge the world from themselves, and it will be very generally found that those who sneer habitually at human nature, and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant samples.”

“The fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain.”

“Vanity is so secure in the heart of man that everyone wants to be admired: even I who write this, and you who read this.”

“That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.”

“What's more to do,Which would be planted newly with the time,As calling home our exiled friends abroadThat fled the snares of watchful tyranny,Producing forth the cruel ministersOf this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent handsTook off her life; this, and what needful elseThat calls upon us, by the grace of GraceWe will perform in measure, time, and place.”

“A strong nation is one that is loved by its people and, as Edmund Burke put it, for a country to be loved it ought to be lovely.”