وما يقوله الأطباء عن المرض ينطبق هنا: ففي البداية يسهل علاج المرض ويصعب تشخيصه، ومع مرور الوقت، إذا لم يُكتشف أو يُعالج في أوله، يصير تشخيصه سهلًا وعلاجه صعبًا. والأمر نفسه يحدث في شؤون الدولة؛ فإدراك الأمراض المستشرية في الدولة من بعيد، وهي موهبة لا يمنحها إلا الحاكم الحصيف، يتيح شفاءها سريعًا. أما إذا لم تُدرك وتُترك لتنمو حتى يعرفها الجميع، فلم يعد لها علاج.

“And what physicians say about disease is applicable here: that at the beginning a disease is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognized or treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure. The same thing occurs in affairs of state; for by recognizing from afar the diseases that are spreading in the state (which is a gift given only to the prudent ruler), they can be cured quickly; but when, not having been recognized, they are not recognized and are left to grow to the extent that everyone recognizes them, there is no longer any cure.”Niccolo Machiavelli — Tact is one of the first of mental virtues, the absence of which is frequently fatal to the best of talents. Without denying that it is a talent of itself, it will suffice if we admit that it supplies the place of many talents