A Few Truths from The Prince
Poor Niccolo Machiavelli has gotten a horrible reputation for being evil. I propose that
he called it the way he saw it in 15th century Italy, and some of his observances are still
so true today:
- "A war is never avoided. It is only deferred to one's own disadvantage."
- "Society is a system in which the loser is always wrong."
- "Men must either be cajoled or crushed; for they will revenge themselves
for slight wrongs, while for grave ones they cannot."
- "For it is by foreseeing difficulties from afar that they are easily provided
against; but awaiting their near approach, remedies are no longer in time, for the
malady has become incurrable."
- "Whenever the opponents of the new order of things have the opportunity to
attack it, they will do it with the zeal of partisans, while the others defend it
but feebly."
- "A profit should be prepared, in case the people will not believe any more,
to be able by force to compel them to that belief."
- "It is essential for a Prince to possess the goodwill of his people, otherwise
he will be utterly without support in time of adversity."
- "The armor of another never suits you entirely."
- "The short-sightedness of men leads them to adopt any measure that for the moment
seems good, and which does not openly reveal the poison concealed under it."
- "A man who, in all respects, will carry out only his professions of good, will be
apt to be ruined among so many who are evil."
- "There is nothing that consumes itself so quickly as liberality; for the very act
of using it causes it to lose the faculty of being used."
- "Friendships that are won by rewards, and not be greatness and nobility of soul,
are not real and cannot be depended upon in times of adversity."
- "There are two ways of carrying on a contest; the one by law, and the other by
force. The first is practiced by men, and the other by animals; and as the first is
often insufficient, it becomes necessary to resort to the second."
- "A prince should seem to be merciful, faithful, humane, religious, and upright,
and should even be so in reality; but he should have his mind so trained that,
when ocassion requires it, he may know how to change to the opposite."
- "The common people are always taken by appearances and by results, and it is
the vulgar mass that constitutes the world."
- "The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people."
- "Such is the order of things that one inconvenience cannot be avoided except at
the risk of being exposed to another."
- "It is a common defect of men in fair weather to take no thought of storms."
Very Enlightening.
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