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. – Niccolo Machiavelli
God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us. – Niccolo Machiavelli
It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope. – Niccolo Machiavelli
The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him. – Niccolo Machiavelli