The First Time's the Charm
The following
excerpt from Chapter 18 of Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince advises a leader on how
to sell himself:
"
a
prudent ruler ought not to keep faith when by so doing it would be against his interest,
and when the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist. If men were all good,
this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their
faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them
.But it is necessary to
be able to disguise this character well, and to be a great feigner and dissembler; and men
are so simple and so ready to obey present necessities, that one who deceives will always
find those who allow themselves to be deceived."
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