Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasions for it.
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation
Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio [Discourses on the First Ten of Titus Livy]. Papal Privilege, 1531, bk. 1, ch. 3
Current Citation
Machiavelli, Niccolo. Discourses on Livy, translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1, ch. 3.