Negativity in Utopia, Christian Freedom and the PrinceMore in Utopia, Luther in Christian Freedom and Machiavelli in The Prince all say that people are bad, no matter what is done something bad will happen; however, all three authors approached the topic differently. Machiavelli has the most difficult message "people are scum". The entire book outlines ways to take advantage of other people. Through examination of history, Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a manual for how things had worked in the past and, he believed, would work again in the future. Machiavelli suggests that if you wanted to eliminate competition you should do it quickly instead of allowing deaths and trials to drag on forever, because people are more likely to forget something that happened quickly. Machiavelli believed that people were bad and that to get ahead in life you must take advantage of others. If you were able to ask Thomas More directly if he believes people are scum, he would most likely say no. He believed that if people were treated openly and honestly they would do the same for you; More is decidedly very non-Machiavellian. However, More also accepted that people did bad things. In his perfect societies mentioned in Utopia, he established the ways in which people who did not follow the rules were treated, and very often this punishment was quite harsh. From Raphael's monologue in the first part of the book it is clear that More believes that at the time of his writing the world was not in good condition; however, he believed that people could be reformed. The last paragraph of the book sets out this belief: "But I freely admit that there are many features of the utopian Republic which I would like, though I hardly expect, to see adopted in Europe." In Christian Liberty, Luther states his belief that all people will sin, in other words humans are incapable of not doing bad things. In the first paragraphs of Christian Liberty, Luther exposes the entire problem of human existence: the dual nature of man. Man has both a corporeal component and a spiritual component. Luther cites Galatians 5:17 to support his argument: "for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh." Luther's belief is that the bodily side of man will lead him to do bad things and this is inevitable.