Niccolò Machiavelli
Cues
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“A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it.”
“The evening being come, I return home and go to my study; at the entrance I pull off my peasant-clothes, covered with dust and dirt, and put on my noble court dress, and thus becomingly re-clothed I pass into the ancient courts of the men of old, where, being lovingly received by them, I am fed with that food which is mine alone; where I do not hesitate to speak with them, and to ask for the reason of their actions, and they in their benignity answer me.”
Separate political reality from the ideal
Instead of judging politics by abstract philosophy or politicians' idealistic promises, observe how people actually act in the political realm, separating wishes about how things ought to work from how they do.