"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"It is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved? It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved."
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli (2015). “The Prince”, p.64, Booklassic
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