Reviews - The Prince | The StoryGraph

2.18k reviews for:

The Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli

3.52 AVERAGE

griever195's review against another edition

5.0

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

seanhill's review against another edition

Now I get to say the word machiavellian

vikiss47's review against another edition

3.0

"[H]e who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil. Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity." (p. 52)

Lauded as one of the most influential books of all time, The Prince has lots of advice for many types of leaders at the expense of breaking your moral compass. Each chapter handles a certain situation a leader may find themselves in, albeit using the terms and conflicts of Machiavelli's time. Nonetheless, the pieces of advice Machiavelli notes are timeless, as he highlights how leaders should think, act, and protect their liabilities. The last chapter of The Prince has a letter from Machiavelli about Prince Castruccio Castracani Of Lucca, a paragon of Machiavelli's advice. You must know the road to Hell before you can avoid it, and Machiavelli gave us knowledge of the road to government corruption.