Purplefrog has a signature line that states,
"With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions."- Abraham Lincoln
Appears that Honest Abe agrees with the issue that shaping image/thought/expectation is the mark of successful politics.
Difference in Abe and Machiavelli is that Abe shaped thought with honest debate and rational. Machiavelli (and many politicians) do it with lies.
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"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -Thomas Jefferson
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