It is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed so that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist

The Prince, ch. 18 (1513) [tr. Ricci (1903)]