Machiavelli — "Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge …"
Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries—for heavy ones they cannot.
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More from Machiavelli
"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"Men must either be caressed or annihilated; they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, but not for great ones."
"There are three kinds of intellect: one which comprehends by itself; another that discerns what another comprehends; and a third which comprehends neither by itself nor by the showing of another."
"War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms."
"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."
About Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Florentine diplomat and political theorist whose The Prince (written 1513) became the founding text of political realism and gave us the adjective 'Machiavellian.' Closely associated with Francesco Guicciardini (fellow Florentine political analyst and historian). For an intellectual contrast, see Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch humanist and The Education of a Christian Prince author (1516) — Erasmus's princely-instruction manual was published three years after Machiavelli's, for the same European audience, and is the explicit Christian-virtue alternative to Machiavellian power-realism. The cleanest 'realism vs idealism' founding pairing in modern political theory.
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