“The Prince must therefore make himself feared in such as way that, if he is not loved, at least he escapes being hated. For fear is quite compatible with an absence of hatred; and the prince can always avoid hatred if he abstains from the property of his subjects and from their women. If, even so, it proves necessary to execute someone, this is to be done only when there is proper and manifest reason for it. But above all a prince must abstain from the property of others; because men sooner forget the death of their father to the loss of their patrimony. It is always possible to find pretexts for confiscating someone’s property; and a prince who starts to live by rapine always finds pretexts for seizing what belongs to others.�