Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it. - Niccolò Machiavelli (Discourses on Livy Quotes)

Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.[A chi dispone una republica, ed ordina leggi in quella, presupporre tutti gli uomini rei, e che li abbiano sempre a usare la malignità dello animo loro, qualunque volta ne abbiano libera occasione.]

Source:(Houghton, Mifflin and Co., ed. 1891), Book I, Chapter III, Page 104
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