One must emulate both the fox and the lion, because a lion
cannot defy a snare, while a fox cannot defy a pack of wolves. -
Niccolò Machiavelli What does that mean? This is another Twitter
shortened quote, which is stated more completely as: “A Prince
must imitate the fox and the lion, for 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.“ This quote is from a section on
keeping faith (keeping promises), and details how and when a
Prince should keep or break his word. The opponents of the
Prince are cast as the wolves, who would either attack him
directly (beastly attacks of force) or lay traps for the purpose
of entangling him (clever attacks by law or using the word of
the Prince against him). To survive the direct attacks, he
argues, the wolves must be met by a lion, a great and fearsome
beast, more than able (in theory) to scatter and defeat a group
of hungry wolves. In this, he says tha