“Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life, and children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely on their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined.”
“The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelli is one of the first works of political philosophy. It is the most remembered of Machiavelli's works and the one responsible for bringing the word “Machiavellian” into usage as a pejorative. “The Prince” was first published in 1532.
