"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"Then also pretexts for seizing property are never wanting, and one who begins to live by rapine will always find some reason for taking the goods of others, whereas causes for taking life are rarer and more quickly destroyed."
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Source: The Prince. Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, 1513.
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