The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
From Niccolo Machiavelli
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people.
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
Politics have no relation to morals.
Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
5 perspectives
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3 perspectives
2 perspectives