"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities."
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Source: Niccolo Machiavelli (2017). “The Prince”, p.56, Knickerbocker Classics
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