A Prince is a Man for All Seasons

12 axioms of a PRINCE:

• A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.

• A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.

• He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
• Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.
• No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
• One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.
• Politics have no relation to morals.
• Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.
• The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
• The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.
• The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
• 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.