"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"Many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his preservation."
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.48, Race Point Publishing
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