Florence, Italy…Niccolò Machiavelli 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527 Author of The Prince. This widely read treatise on power offers an amoral look at power. Advice hopefully not always followed but recognised nonetheless.

“It is much safer to be feared than loved because …love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

“Never was anything great achieved without danger.”

“Before all else, be armed.”