"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"In order not to annul our free will, I judge it true that Fortune may be mistress of one half our actions but then even she leaves the other half, or almost, under our control."
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Source: Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli, book 1, ch. 3, 1517.
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