"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"And when he is obliged to take the life of any one, to do so when there is a proper justification and manifest reason for it; but above all he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony."
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.53, Race Point Publishing
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