I have always thought that Machiavelli derives his bad name from a too transparent honesty. Less direct minds would have found high-sounding ethical sanctions in which to conceal the real intent. … Machiavelli’s morals are not one bit worse than the practices of the men who rules the world today.

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author

A Preface to Politics, ch. 7 (1913)

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