Niccolò Machiavelli：The Prince, Excerpt 86

But if a prince who is not inexperienced should take counsel from more than one he will never get united counsels, nor will he know how to unite them. Each of the counsellors will think of his own interests, and the prince will not know how to control them or to see through them. And they are not to be found otherwise, because men will always prove untrue to you unless they are kept honest by constraint. Therefore it must be inferred that good counsels, whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232
Locator：Excerpt 86 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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