"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"But in Republics there is a stronger vitality, a fiercer hatred, a keener thirst for revenge. The memory of their former freedom will not let them rest; so that the safest course is either to destroy them, or to go and live in them."
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Moore (2010). “Machiavelli, More & Luther”, p.19, Cosimo, Inc.
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