1. If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. 2. There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you. 3. Never was anything great achieved without danger. 4. The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him. 5. Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception. 6. My view is that it is desirable to be both loved and feared; but it is difficult to achieve both and, if one of them has to be lacking, it is much safer to be feared than loved because love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails. 7. All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer. 8. There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless. 9. The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar. 10. A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it. 11. The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present. 12. Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence one who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires. 13. A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways. (1469-1527; Florence, Italy)
Thanks. Never read the man. Might soon after seeing this.
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