Power

Power                                                                           [1577 - 646]

Power is more important than popularity.

Knowledge is power.

Knowledge is power, above all knowledge about other people.

If there is no authority, power is needed.

Power cannot survive without prestige, and prestige cannot survive without distance.

The hardest temptation is not money or love. The most difficult temptation is power.

Power is that which is conquered, consolidated and expanded.

When interests and ideologies reached a position of power they lose their morality.

Where there is power, there is also abuse of power.

Without abuse, power is not fascinating.

In the kingdom of the blind, there is a one-eyed king.

Power is evil in itself.

There is no power without hate.

There is only one way to fight power. Survive it!

Use of power

If you ever come to power and are benefited and intoxicated by it, even if it is only for a year, you will not give it up voluntarily.

If you want to maintain your position in power, you must learn that you cannot always be good, but to be or not to be, all as needed.

Even the most honest of great men need villains around them. There are things they cannot ask honest people to do.

The art of being a prince is that you do the good yourself personally and the evil through a deputy.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

All humans are animals; the princes are animals that are not chained.

Even a good leader, who has been in power for a long time, becomes a risk to his people, as a result of his aides who become increasingly corrupt over time.

A strong man ruling over a country becomes a danger to his people the longer he stays in power.

Charisma can be a stumbling block for leaders. It makes them inflexible, convinced of their infallibility, incapable of change.

The least harmful for the people is when the top management of the country changes often, preferably democratically.

If you want to control others, you must first exercise self-control.

The worst government is virtuous. A government made up of cynics is often quite tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are in power, there is no limit to oppression.

If the citizens only knew how little sense their kingdom is governed by.

If you want to rule a state and uphold its laws, you must assume that people are evil and that they are willing to give in to their evil inclinations when the opportunity arises.

[Valta]