Blast from the past

Always enjoyed using pithy quotes when writing essays. Found these from my past and recognise some relevance to being a councillor and attempting change.


There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, that to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order. This luke-warmness arises partly from fear of their adversaries, who have law in their favour, and partly from the incredulity of mankind who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it. (Machiavelli)

We trained very hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet every new situation by reorganising; and a wonderful method it is for creating illusions of progress, whilst producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation. (Caius Petronius, AD66)