>>21266081911. The fool, in general, is stupid. If he weren't stupid, he would have chased away the crafty ones long ago.
12. The fool, in general, is uncultured because of stupidity. If he weren't stupid, he would understand the value of culture in chasing away the crafty ones.
13. There are intelligent and cultured fools who would like to chase away the crafty ones. But they can't: 1) because they are fools; 2) because the other fools are stupid and uncultured, and don't understand them.
14. To get ahead, there are two ways. One is good, but the other is better. The first is to kiss the crap out of the crafty ones. But the second is better, which consists in scaring them: 1) because there's no crafty one who doesn't have some mischief to hide; 2) because there's no crafty one who doesn't prefer a quiet life to fighting, and associating with other brigands to waging war against them.
15. The fool is interested in the production of wealth. The crafty man is primarily interested in its distribution.
16. The Italian has such a cult for cunning that he even admires those who exploit it to his detriment. The crafty man is prominent in Italy not only for his own cunning, but also for the reverence Italians generally have for cunning itself, which they appeal to primarily for redemption and revenge. In the family, at school, in careers, example and current doctrine—not found in books—teach the ways of cunning. The victim laments the cunning that has befallen him, but in his heart he promises to learn the lesson for another occasion. The distrust of the humble that is found in almost all of Italy is precisely the effect of a centuries-old domination of the crafty, against whom the nonsense of the majority has been armored by a shell of silence and obtuse suspicion, not sufficient, however, to protect them from the ever new cunning of that
Giuseppe Prezzolini, 1921.
It's still the most accurate description of Italian society