If a rebellious people are allowed to believe that they can rise in rebellion without suffering any adverse consequences, it will be impossible to keep order

From Machiavelli: His Life and Times by Alexander Lee.

It was much the same with compassion. While it was only natural for a prince ‘to want to be thought merciful rather than cruel’, he must take care ‘not to use [his] mercifulness badly’. Sometimes, Niccolò contended, one can come to harm in trying to be too compassionate. For example, if a rebellious people are allowed to believe that they can rise in rebellion without suffering any adverse consequences, it will be impossible to keep order. Florence had found this to its cost in Pistoia, in 1501–2. Rather than punish the warring factions, the Signoria had chosen to be compassionate, allowing the city to be torn apart by civil strife. It would thus be far better for a prince to acquire a reputation for cruelty, Niccolò argued.

We have a lot of Mayors at the moment who probably wish they had boned up on their Machiavelli before they got in over their heads. Mayors of Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Seattle all leap to mind.