You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I appreciate this inquiry into the power of a prince for evaluating what is rather than what should be. For this reason, I find Machiavelli’s conclusions to be far more genuine than other philosophy in this vein.
And many have imagined republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to exist in truth; for it is so far from how one lives to how one should live that he who lets go of what is done for what should be done learns his ruin rather than his preservation.
-Chapter 15, Of those things which men and especially princes are praised or blamed
And now I know why the world is governed by megalomaniacal a**hats intent on practicing the politics of pre-industrial city states.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
If you happen to be needing information on how to get and maintain a state in medieval Europe, this book is great. Otherwise, it's kind of very boring. The more interesting part is how much Machiavellian as an adjective for being ruthless and amoral is ubiquitous in our society and yet there's like 5 pages on that and the rest is "mercenaries are bad because they don't have any loyalty".
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I don't think this book deserves the reputation it has. Too often it's viewed as the handbook for egoists to seize power when, considering the state of Florentine (and the Italian peninsula as a whole) politics at the time, it's clearly a rallying cry for the sentiment of humanism and early Italian nationalism. Not once does the book denounce virtue save for when it results in the ruin of impotent men! It is first and foremost a text that encourages competence and promotes self-reliance, practical benevolence, artfulness, etc; all of these qualities were sorely lacking in the counts and princes at the time, who bent to the will of determinism and the interests of their coffers. To view the work as explicitly opportunistic is to misunderstand it fundamentally. Let us not forget that Machiavelli was tortured for weeks due to his republican leanings. To him, it must have been obvious that a moral man could not expect the victory of good simply by being loved.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Translation is crucial for this one. The version by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa from the 1970s, included in The Portable Machiavelli is one of the best I have encountered, and I encourage interested readers to seek that one out.
The lions and foxes passage is one of the crucial moments in European (and ultimately global) thought.
Machiavelli continues to be relevant. I had forgotten how deeply he read history, though his Discourses emerging from marginal notes on Livy should point the way. His examples of French, Italian, and Roman mercenary armies and his examination of new states and failures of leadership remain fascinating.
The lions and foxes passage is one of the crucial moments in European (and ultimately global) thought.
Machiavelli continues to be relevant. I had forgotten how deeply he read history, though his Discourses emerging from marginal notes on Livy should point the way. His examples of French, Italian, and Roman mercenary armies and his examination of new states and failures of leadership remain fascinating.
I’m not sure why I read this. It feels like a companion piece to The Art of War. This is effectively a manual for tyrant wannabes on how to manipulate, threaten and murder your way to power, and how to take advantage of others (through manipulation, threats and violence) to maintain power once it is achieved. It applies to probably fewer than 25 dictators in the world today, and overall was just dreadful.