What is your take on the following quotation ?

Question

"Men love you as they please, and fear you as you please."

Source: The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Answer 1

I think it means that we, rather than others, control how much we are loved or feared.

Answer 2

the part we control is our opinion of ourselves, our insecurities can become an issue,

men will give love only as they wish

Answer 3

I guess its the truth. Men love you only when they want to, and fear you when you want them to be fearfull of you.  

Answer 4

The way and when they show their emotions may differ from the next man.

Answer 5

i believe this quotation makes reference to the controls of society derived from the social education of that society- in that people's behaviours about themselves and towards others, are controlled by their own rules and values, directed and guided by the society they live in:

...people (''...men'')

...may or may not like you (''...love you'')  

...by choice (''...as they please')

...but they are wary, careful, cautious of getting hurt (both physical and/or emotional)(''...fear you'')

...by something (a body or force) or someone (yourself or another) that they cannot argue with and would draw consequences on themselves  if they did (''...as you please'')....

The control implied here is of suffering a negative consequence through actions detrimental to the understood directions .....

In other words, in layman's terms, this quotation says ''you don't have to like it but you do have to do as your are told''....

.... It takes a clever mind to put all that into one sentence with such force...... :)