Luther on Good vs Bad Public Officials

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Have you ever asked yourself whether it's better to have a smart but bad public servant or a good but incompetent one? Here's what 16th Century Reformer Martin Luther said...

The reasonable question has been put whether it is better to have a good but imprudent ruler or a prudent but personally bad one. Moses here certainly calls for both: a good ruler and a prudent ruler. However, if both qualifications cannot be had, a prudent ruler who is not personally good is better than a good one who is not prudent, because a good one rules nothing but is only ruled—and only by the worst of people. Even though a prudent but personally bad ruler may harm the good people, he nevertheless rules the evil ones at the same time; and this is more necessary and proper for the world, since the world is nothing but a mass of evil people.*

* H/T Col. John Eidsmoe (Luther, W 14, 553 — E op ex 13, 103 — SL 3, 1383; quoted in Ewald Plass, What Luther Says, p. 582)