Nicolo Machiavelli said it something like
this.
A prince, wishing to maintain among men a reputation
for generostity, is obliged to avoid any attribute of magnificence; so that a prince
thus inclined will consume in his generocity all his property, and will be compelled in
the end, if he wishes to maintain his reputation for generocity, to unduly weigh down
his people, and tax them, and do everything he can to get money. This will soon make him
odious to his subjects, and becoming poor he will be little valued by any one; thus,
with his generocity, having offended many and rewarded few, he is affected by the very
first trouble and imperilled by whatever may be the first danger; recognizing this
himself, and wishing to draw back from it, he runs at once into the reproach of being
miserly.
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