Status Updates From Discourses on Livy

“When gain is seen in the things that are put before the people, even though there is loss concealed underneath, and when it appears spirited, even though there is the ruin of the republic concealed underneath, it will always be easy to persuade the multitude of it; and likewise it may always be difficult to persuade [the public]of policies if either cowardice or loss might appear, even though safety and gain might

“Men are wont to worry in evil and to become bored with good, and from both of these two passions the same effects arise. For whenever engaging in combat through necessity is taken from men, they engage in combat through ambition, which is so powerful in human breasts that it never abandons them at whatever rank they rise to. The cause is that nature has created men so that they are able to desire everything and