Machiavelli On Absolutism

From his 1517 treatise on practical politics, The Prince:

The way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live, that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation.

And 489 years later, this is still true.

(Hat tip to reader Frederic, who has this as his sigline to his email. Talk about topical.)