[But] there is no sure method of pressing cities except by ruining them. Whoever takes a city used to living in liberty according to its own customs and does not ruin it, risks being ruined by it.
This is because the city can always rebel in the name of liberty and its ancient customs, none of which are ever forgotten with time no matter how much largesse.
No matter what one does, if you don't disband the citizenry and immediately eradicate the customs and traditions, they come back to haunt you.
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
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Those who have read Machiavelli in depth have positive opinions; those who have not read his works have negative opinions. When he suggests guiding principles for a Prince concerning his land and people, the principles are not anchored in Machiavelli, the man, but in Machiavelli, the scientist. Because those principles are revealed through his science, we should judge him by the science he’s discovered and not by the truths discovered through that science, because too often those truths are not to our liking.
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In the case of occupied states that have been used to living with their own laws in liberty, there are 3 modes of holding them: first, to ruin them; second, go live personally in them; third, let them live according to their laws […] and creating a...
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
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