"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"The state is not an organism capable of bringing either moral or material improvements to the populace...but merely a vehicle of power for the men and party in power."
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Source: The Art of War by Niccolo Machiavelli, Book 7, as translated by Neal Wood (1965), 1520.
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"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves."
"Women are the most charitable creatures, and the most troublesome. He who shuns women passes up the trouble, but also the benefits. He who puts up with them gains the benefits, but also the trouble. As the saying goes, there's no honey without bees."
"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are."
"Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage."
"I desire to go to Hell and not to Heaven. In the former I shall enjoy the company of popes, kings and princes, while in the latter are only beggars, monks and apostles"