“You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.”

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 3 (as translated by RM Adams)
Context: If someone puts up the argument that King Louis gave the Romagna to Pope Alexander, and the kingdom of Naples to Spain, in order to avoid a war, I would answer as I did before: that you should never let things get out of hand in order to avoid war. You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.

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Niccolo Machiavelli 130
Italian politician, Writer and Author 1469–1527

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