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Quotation from Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius by Niccolò Machiavelli
“For although the act condemn the doer, the end may justify him; and when, as in the case of Romulus, the end is good, it will always excuse the means;”
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius, Book I, ch. IX, trans. Ninian Hill Thomson (1883)
On the founder who must stand alone; Machiavelli adds that the founder should not hand on his absolute power to a successor.
Citation: "For although the act condemn the doer, the end may justify him; and when, as in the case of Romulus, the end is good, it will always excuse the means;" — Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius, Book I, ch. IX, trans. Ninian Hill Thomson (1883). (id machiavelli-discourses-on-livy-q3)
Portrait: Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli, Santi di Tito, Public domain.
