Breviarium Politicorum

2 ideas

1. Know yourself and others before acting

   The manual opens with two duties: first know yourself, then know others. You audit your own passions, tells and weaknesses as a hostile observer would, then read other people through small, unguarded signs such as gestures, habits and conduct at table or in drink. Self-management comes first because a courtier who cannot see his own leaks cannot hide them, and everyone else is reading him the same way.

2. Assume every word will be repeated

   The manual treats every conversation, letter and confidence as potentially passed on to the person it concerns or to a rival. Under that assumption you never say or write anything about a person that you could not defend in front of them. Friendship and trust become temporary conditions, not safe places for disclosure.

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