We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed. — Niccolo Machiavelli. Florentine statesman, diplomat, and political theorist (1469–1527)
War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.
Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.
A prince should therefore have no other aim or thought, nor take up any other thing for his study but war and it organization and discipline, for that is the only art that is necessary to one who commands.
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.