It is better to be impetuous than cautious, for Fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to keep her down, to beat her and knock her about. And one sees that she lets herself be conquered by men of this sort more than by those that proceed coldly. And therefore, like a woman, she is always the friend of the young, because they are less cautious, fiercer, and command her with more audacity. niccolo machiavelli