"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"If the chief party, whether it be the people, or the army, or the nobility, which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity, be corrupt, you must follow their humor and indulge them, and in that case honesty and virtue are pernicious."
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli (1979). “The Portable Machiavelli”, p.274, Penguin
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