"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"Men never do good unless necessity drives them to it; but when they are free to choose and can do just as they please, confusion and disorder become rampant."
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Source: Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli, book 1, ch. 3, as translated by LJ Walker and B Crick, 1517.
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