{{Cquote|''Men nearly always follow in the footsteps laid out by others.''}}
{{Cquote|''Fortune is responsible for half that happens, leaving the half to ourselves.''}}
{{Cquote|''*"the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit from the new order"<ref>Niccolo Machiavelli, ''The Prince and The Discourses'' 21 (Luigi Ricci trans., McGraw Hill Educ. 1st ed. 1950) (1532) (as quoted by ''Hall v. McRaven'', 508 S.W.3d 232, 247 (Tex. 2017) (Willett, J., concurring).</ref>
{{Cquote|''There are two forms of government, principalities and republics.''}}
{{cquote|''A prince has never lacked legitimate reasons to justify his breach of faith. ...But it is necessary to know how to disguise this nature well and how to pretend and dissemble. Men are so simple and so ready to follow the needs of the moment that the deceiver will always find someone to deceive. ...So a prince need not have all the aforementioned good qualities, but it is most essential that he appear to have them. Indeed, I should go so far as to say that having them and always practising them is harmful, while seeming to have them is useful. It is good to appear clement, trustworthy, human, '''religious''', and honest, and also to be so, but always with the mind so disposed that, when the occasion arises not to be so, you can become the opposite. ... a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.''}}