"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred; for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together, and will be always attained by one who abstains from interfering with the property of his citizens and subjects or with their women."
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Source: The Prince. Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, 1513.
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