"And if, to be sure, sometimes you..." - Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli
And if, to be sure, sometimes you need to conceal a fact with words, do it in such a way that it does not become known, or, if it does become known, that you have a ready and quick defense.
More by Niccolo Machiavelli
“For as laws are necessary that good manners be preserved, so there is need of good manners that law may be maintained.”
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
“Men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.”
More on Deception
“The cunningest dissimulation is when a man pretends to be caught in the traps others set for him; and a man is never so easily over-reached as when he is contriving to over-reach others.”
“They lie deadly that tell you have good faces.”
“I had no idea of the enormous and unquestionably helpful part that humbug plays in the social life of great peoples dwelling in a state of democratic freedom.”
More on Strategy
“The most important work of the executive is to identify the changes that have already happened. The important thing . . . is to exploit the changes that have already occurred and to use them as opportunities.”
“A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win.”
“I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.”