#ruler

In the first place, most princes apply themselves to the arts of war, in which I have neither ability nor interest, instead of to the good arts of peace. They are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms by hook or by crook than on governing well those that they already have. ↗

— Thomas More

#government #human-nature #peace #rulers #war

Some legislators only wish to vengeance against a particular enemy. Others only look out for themselves. They devote very little time on the consideration of any public issue. They think that no harm will come from their neglect. They act as if it is always the business of somebody else to look after this or that. When this selfish notion is entertained by all, the commonwealth slowly begins to decay. ↗

— Thucydides

#governments #rulers #business

In the games of queens and kings, we leave our dreams at the door and we make do with what we have. Sometimes if we’re fortunate, we still manage to have a good life. ↗

— Melina Marchetta

#kings #lives #loss #queens #rulership

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him. ↗

— Niccolo Machiavelli

#first #him #intelligence #look #men

Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise. ↗

— Samuel Lover

#instruments #rulers #weak #wise

The Word of God I think of as a straight edge, which shows up our own crookedness. We can't really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of Scripture. ↗

— Elisabeth Elliot

#edge #god #line #ruler #scripture

The world is ruled by cowards and cravens; brave men have put them there. ↗

— Damon Meredith

#coward #cowardice #government #leaders #leadership

Princes always are always happy to see developing among their subjects the taste for agreeable arts and for superfluities which do not result in the export of money. For quite apart from the fact that with these they nourish that spiritual pettiness so appropriate for servitude, they know very well that all the needs which people give themselves are so many chains binding them. When Alexander wished to keep the Ichthyophagi dependent on him, he forced them to abandon fishing and to nourish themselves on foods common to other people. And no one has been able to subjugate the savages in America, who go around quite naked and live only from what their hunting provides. In fact, what yoke could be imposed on men who have no need of anything? ↗

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

#america #rulers #art

In the privacy of my dreams, I'm a warrior. ↗

— Kimberly Derting

#fantasy #kings #queens #rulers #social-class

It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results. ↗

— Sun Tzu

#army #enlightened #general #great #great results