Shadowplay Cash

ime pure sociopaths get put out of doors pretty quickly, the people who float to the top are people with very active yet very mercenary emotional lives, thats the new meta

once in a while you see someone whos overcome with pity and horror-at-all-pain the moment their friend is getting shit, whos swamped with tics and trembles whenever they need to look weak, who relaxes into smooth /b/tard cruelism whenever someone inconvenient needs to go. and never hesitates and never gets self-conscious and never feels their opponent threw a nice punch. and look as long as you like these feelings are all completely authentic. every chord of human experience is there but here the instrument's in tune

Therefore, it is not necessary for a prince to possess all of the above-mentioned qualities, but it is very necessary for him to appear to possess them. Furthermore, I shall dare to assert this: that having them and always observing them is harmful, but appearing to observe them is useful: for instance, to appear merciful, faithful, humane, trustworthy, religious, and to be so; but with his mind disposed in such a way that, should it become necessary not to be so, he will be able and know how to change to the opposite. One must understand this: a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things for which men are considered good, because in order to maintain the state he must often act against his faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion. And so it is necessary that he should have a mind ready to turn itself according to the way the winds of Fortune and the changing circumstances command him. And, as I said above, he should not depart from the good if it is possible to do so, but he should know how to enter into evil when forced by necessity. Therefore, a prince must be very careful never to let anything fall from his lips that is not imbued with the five qualities mentioned above; to those seeing and hearing him, he should appear to be all mercy, all faithfulness, all integrity, all humanity, and all religion. And there is nothing more necessary than to seem to possess this last quality. Men in general judge more by their eyes than their hands: everyone can see, but few can feel. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few touch upon what you are, and those few do not dare to contradict the opinion of the many who have the majesty of the state to defend them.

"I alone love the lotus, which emerges from the mud but is not tainted, washed by clear water but not seductive."

It got better.

The painting at the top is “The Cardinal’s Leisure” by Charles Édouard Delort (1841-1895): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richelieu_et_ses_chats.jpeg

“nobody wants to work anymore” yeah because everyone wants to kill themselves

My dad has worked in construction is whole life, primarily with a company that does concrete foundations, and I immediately sent him this back when I first found it on TikTok, and he IMMEDIATELY shared it with everyone he worked with. They apparently still quote it on his job sites to this day.