"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"To keep your actions and your plans secret always has been a very good thing . .. Marcus Crassus said to one who asked him when he was going to move the army: 'Do you believe that you will be the only one not to hear the trumpet?"
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Source: Florentine Histories by Niccolò Machiavelli, book V, chapter 1, 1526.
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