"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever, that in the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure"
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli (2010). “The Prince”, p.9, FastPencil Inc
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