On May 2, 1469, in Florence, Italy, Machiavelli (Niccolo Machiavelli) was born, politician, diplomat, writer, known for "The Prince" - pocket book for unscrupulous, cunning and treacherous politicians. "The basic method for assessing a leader's intelligence is to see what kind of people he keeps around him." In addition to "The Prince", Machiavelli wrote the treatise on "The Art of War", as well as poetry and drama. He spent the last years of his life alone in a small village, far from the city. He died in 1527, while being buried in the church of Santa Croce in Florence, where he was ironically forbidden to enter while he was alive. The famous phrase "the end justifies the means" was not written by Machiavelli, but by another colossus of Italian letters, Francesco de Sanctis, who summed up the wrong way of interpreting Machiavelli's thought.
Among all the warriors and sovereigns of the early Renaissance, Machiavelli spots the perfect "prince" in the one with the worst reputation.
But why did a cruel nobleman like Cesare Borgia become a symbol of the most virtuous republican politics?
Machiavelli had first met Borgia in 1501 when, at the height of his glory, he had conquered the territories of Florence. He analyzed the actions and the decline, which came first from the death of the Pope - his father in 1503.
Borgia embodied the concepts of virtue and fate: fate (the fact that he was the Pope's son) had favored him in taking power, while virtue had been demonstrated in keeping power. But Machiavelli's virtue is secular, superior to ethical, moral and religious rules, ready to use force, cruelty, betrayal only to achieve the common good. And, Cesare Borgia had all these, but he was also a prince appreciated by the people who brought order, stability, courts and justice to the territories he ruled. However, alongside these gifts, he displayed a harsh, overbearing and even malicious character.
"Machiavellianism" today is synonymous with a politics of force, unscrupulous and without morals, for the benefit of which all means are good. The basic hypothesis of this theory is that each person knows what he wants and that, according to reasonable criteria, he chooses the means that best serve the realization of his goals.
Below are 50 of his most unique quotes:
1. Politics has nothing to do with morality!
2. A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise!
3. A wise ruler should never keep his allegiance if doing so would be against his own interests!
4. First of all, arm yourself!
5. Benefits should be given gradually, and in this way they will be better enjoyed!
6. Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between an obstacle and an opportunity. And they are able to turn both to their advantage!
7. Hatred is earned by good deeds as much as by bad deeds!
8. He who wants to be obedient must know how to command!
9. Thus it turns out that almost all the armed Prophets have been victorious, and all the unarmed prophets have been destroyed!
10. I'm not interested in maintaining the status quo, I want to destroy it!
11. If an injury must be done to a man, then that injury must be so severe that you have no fear of his revenge!
12. It's double fun to cheat the cheater!
13. It is much safer when they are afraid than when they love!
14. Titles don't respect people, but people respect titles!
15. People are so simple and so inclined to obey immediate needs that a con man will never lack victims for his deceptions!
16. People climb from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others!
17. A son cannot calmly bear the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance can drive him to despair!
18. Human minds are of three kinds: the first capable of thinking for itself, the second capable of understanding the thoughts of others, and the third is neither capable of thinking for itself nor of understanding the way others think. others. The first is high excellence, the second is excellence, and the third is worthless!
19. There is nothing more difficult to undertake, more dangerous to undertake, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in entering upon a new order of things!
20. Nothing great is ever achieved without risk!
21. War is not avoided; it can only be postponed, to the advantage of others!
22. Anyone who wants to be consistently successful must change behavior over time!
23. The promise given was a necessity of the past; broken promise is a necessity of the present!
24. People instinctively don't trust things they haven't experienced themselves!
25. The more sand that has fallen from the hourglass of our life, the more clearly we see through it!
26. No enterprise has more chances of success than that which is hidden from the enemy until the moment of implementation!
27. People rise from one ambition to another; first they try to protect themselves from attacks, then they attack others!
28. If you have to hurt a man, you have to do it so hard that you don't fear his revenge!
29. People must either be treated kindly or destroyed. Because they take revenge for small injuries - for serious ones, they can't!
30. The first method to assess the intelligence of a ruler is to see those around him!
31. He who deceives will always find those who are allowed to be deceived!
32. War is just when it is necessary; weapons are permissible when there is no hope, except for weapons!
33. Princes and governments are much more dangerous than other elements of society!
34. People are so simple, and give in so quickly to the desires of the moment, that he who deceives, will always find those who are ready to be deceived!
35. People must either be treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for light injuries, for serious ones they cannot be revenged!
36. No work of ours is more likely to succeed than what the enemy advises us as he is ready for execution!
37. Of people we can say in general that they are wavering, hypocritical, and greedy for profits!
39. The chief foundations of every state, new as well as ancient and composite, are good laws and good arms. You can't have good laws without good guns, and where there are good guns, good laws inevitably follow!
40. He who adapts the politics of the time, progresses, and on the other hand, the policy of the one who collides with the demands of the time, does not progress!
41. The wise man does immediately what the fool does in the end!
42. There is no war to be avoided, but only to be postponed for the advantage of others!
43. War should be the sole study of a prince. He must consider peace only as a time to breathe, which gives him leisure to invent, and furnishes him with the ability to execute military plans!
44. When you disarm the people, you begin to humiliate them and mistrust them either through fear or through lack of faith, and both of these thoughts breed hatred!
45. When the will is great, the difficulties cannot be great!
46. Whoever conquers a free city and does not destroy it commits a great mistake and may expect to be destroyed himself!
47. If they don't have an opportunity skills are worthless and without a skill opportunities are unnecessary!
48. To govern means to make others believe in you!
49. The intentions of the people are much more honest than the intentions of the aristocrats, because they want to oppress, the people not to be oppressed!
50. Opportunism from Machiavelli: "'Who art thou that looks less sweet/ While the heavens are luxuriantly adorned/ With thy dowry?/ Why then, troubled?/ Why these arms upon thy feet?' 'You don't know me? I am, Opportunism/ The reason I never stay in one place/ Is that I have wheels under my feet/ 'Tell me, who is he who accompanies you?' 'It is called Repentance, which protects me!'”! / TO/Telegrafi/
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