Machiavelli, "The Prince"
A man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves towards self-destruction rather than self-preservation.
Index
The Dangers of Amending A Constitution - [As soon as you change it, you forget the reasons for the change. Think 14th Amendment]
Medicine Metaphor for Political Problems - [When everyone can recognize the problem, remedies are too late]
Romans Had Their Eyes Open: They Took Counter-Measures to Fortune - [No avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others]
US Political Establishment Propping Up the Woke Faction - [whoever is responsible for another's becoming powerful ruins himself]
People Accustomed to Liberty Must Be Devastated to Overcome - [They will never forget their liberty and ancient institutions and will always have recourse in them]
The Spirit of Conservatism - [the memory of their ancient liberty does not and cannot let them rest]
Fortune Provides the Matter; Prowess Gave it its Form - [Fortune gives people opportunities. If they seize them, their country prospers]
The Difficulty of Amending the Constitution - [nothing is more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through]
People Are Easy To Lead But Hard To Drive - [easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to confirm them in that persuasion]
The Statesman Must Understand War - [The first way to lose your state is to neglect the art of war]
Prudence Is the Chief Virtue of a Statesman - [a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves towards self-destruction rather than self-preservation]
Safeguarding the State is the Chief End of a Statesman: Maintaining Habitual Order Amidst Chaos - [he must not flinch from being blamed for vices which are necessary for safeguarding the state]
Statesman Should Not Mind Being Called a Miser - [Prove you are generous by not taking things from others]
Being A Miser Brings Forth Ignominy But Not Hatred; Generosity Brings Forth Ignominy and Hatred - [A prince must try to avoid, above all else, being despised and hatred]
It Is Better To Be Feared Than Loved - [Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared]
We Admire What Great People Achieve, But Detest their Means - [on the one hand, admire what Hannibal achieved, and on the other condemn what made his achievements possible]
The Ideal Statesman: Learns From the Fox and the Lion - [one must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. Those who simply act as lions are stupid]
Men Are Won Over By The Present Far More Than By The Past - [they content themselves with that and do not go looking for anything else]
Fortune Compared To A Violent Flooding River - [Fortune shows her potency when there is no well-regulated power to resist her]
The Importance of Renewal - [If You Do Not Update Policy With the Times, Fortune Could Take Advantage]
Fortune Is A Woman - [Fortune favors young men because they are less circumspect and command her with greater audacity]
The Dangers of Amending A Constitution
[As soon as you change it, you forget the reasons for the change. Think 14th Amendment]
And in the antiquity and duration of his [the prince's] rule the memories and motives that make for change are lost, for one change always leaves the toothing for another. (8)
Medicine Metaphor for Political Problems
[When everyone can recognize the problem, remedies are too late]
The country of Greece provides a good enough example. Here, the Romans supported the Achaeans and the Aetolians; they crushed the Macedonian kingdom, and they drove out Antiochus. They never allowed the Achaeans or the Aeolians to expand their territories however well they behaved; without holding him down; and despite his power, Antiochus was never granted any authority in Greece.
In these instances, the Romans did what all wise rulers must: cope not only with present troubles but also with ones likely to arise in the future and assiduously forestall them.
When trouble is sensed well in advance it can easily be remedied; if you wait for it to show itself any medicine will be too late because the disease will have become incurable. As the doctors say of a wasting disease, to start with it is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; after a time, unless it has been diagnosed and treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure. So it is in politics. Political disorders can be quickly healed if they are seen well in advance; when, for lack of a diagnosis, they are allowed to grow in such a way that everyone can recognize them, remedies are too late. (12)
Romans Had Their Eyes Open: They Took Counter-Measures to Fortune
[No avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others]
So the Romans saw when troubles were coming and always took counter-measures. They never, to avoid a war, allowed them to go unchecked because they knew that there is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others…Time sweeps everything along and can bring good as well as evil. Evil as well as good. (12)
US Political Establishment Propping Up the Woke Faction
[whoever is responsible for another's becoming powerful ruins himself]
From this, we can deduce a general rule, which never or rarely fails to apply: that whoever is responsible for another's becoming powerful ruins himself, because this power is brought into being either by ingenuity or by force, and both of these are suspect to the one who has become powerful. (15)
People Accustomed to Liberty Must Be Devastated to Overcome
[They will never forget their liberty and ancient institutions and will always have recourse in them]
Indeed, there is no surer way of keeping possession than by devastation. Whoever becomes the master of a city accustomed to freedom, and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed himself; because, when there is a rebellion, such a city justifies itself by calling on the name of liberty and its ancient institutions, never forgotten despite the passing of time and the benefits received from the new ruler. Whatever the conqueror's action or foresight, if the inhabitants are not dispersed and scattered, they will forget neither that name nor those institutions; and the first opportunity they will at once have recourse to them. (18-19)
The Spirit of Conservatism
[the memory of their ancient liberty does not and cannot let them rest]
But in republics there is more life, more hatred, a greater desire for revenge; the memory of their ancient liberty does not and cannot let them rest. (19)
Fortune Provides the Matter; Prowess Gave it its Form
[Fortune gives people opportunities. If they seize them, their country prospers]
Fortune, as it were, provided the matter but they gave it its form; without opportunity their prowess would have been extinguished, an without such prowess the opportunity would have come in vain…The opportunities given them enabled these men to succeed, and their own exceptional prowess enabled them to seize their opportunities; in consequence their countries were ennobled and enjoyed great prosperity. (20)
The Difficulty of Amending the Constitution
[nothing is more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through]
It should be borne in mind that there is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through than initiating changes in a state's constitution. The innovator makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old order, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who would prosper under the new. Their support is lukewarm party from fear of their adversaries, who have the existing laws on their side, and partly because men are generally incredulous, never really trusting new things unless they have tested them by experience. (21)
People Are Easy To Lead But Hard To Drive
[easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to confirm them in that persuasion]
Besides what I have said already, the populace is by nature fickle; it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to confirm them in that persuasion. (21)
The Statesman Must Understand War
[The first way to lose your state is to neglect the art of war]
The first way to lose your state is to neglect the art of war; the first way to win a state is to be skilled in the art of war. (47)
Prudence Is the Chief Virtue of a Statesman
[a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves towards self-destruction rather than self-preservation]
But since my intention is to say something that will prove of practical use my intention is to say something that will prove of practical use to the inquirer, I have thought it proper to represent things as they are in a real truth, rather than as they are imagined. Many have dreamed up republics and principalities which have never in truth been known to exist; the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves towards self-destruction rather than self-preservation. The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need. (50)
Safeguarding the State is the Chief End of a Statesman: Maintaining Habitual Order Amidst Chaos
[he must not flinch from being blamed for vices which are necessary for safeguarding the state]
And then, he must not flinch from being blamed for vices which are necessary for safeguarding the state. This is because, taking everything into account, he will find that some of the things that appear to be virtues will, if he practices them, ruin him, and some of the things that appear to be vices will bring him security and prosperity. (51)
Statesman Should Not Mind Being Called a Miser
[Prove you are generous by not taking things from others]
So because a prince cannot practice the virtue of generosity in such a way that he is noted for it, except to his cost, he should if he is prudent not mind being called a miser. In time he will have recognized as being essentially a generous man, seeing that because of his parsimony his existing revenues are enough for him, he can defend himself against an aggressor, and he can embark on campaigns without burdening the people. So he proves himself generous to all those forms whom he takes nothing, and they are innumerable and miserly towards all those to whom he gives nothing, and they are few. (51-52)
Being A Miser Brings Forth Ignominy But Not Hatred; Generosity Brings Forth Ignominy and Hatred
[A prince must try to avoid, above all else, being despised and hatred]
There is nothing so self-defeating as generosity: in the act of practicing it, you lose the ability to do so, and you become either poor and despised or, seeking to escape poverty, rapacious and hated. A prince must try to avoid, above all else, being despised and hated; and generosity results in your being both. Therefore it is wiser to incur the reputation of being a miser, which brings forth ignominy but not hatred, than to be forced by seeking a name for generosity to incur a reputation for rapacity, which brings you hatred as well as ignominy. (53)
It Is Better To Be Feared Than Loved
[Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared]
From this arises the following question: whether it is better to be feared or loved. The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both. One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well, they are yours. They would shed their blood for you, risk their property, their lives, their sons, so long, as I said above, as the danger is remote; but when you are in danger they turn away. Any prince who has come to depend entirely on promises and has taken no other precautions ensures his own ruin; a friendship which is ought with money and not with greatness and nobility of mind is paid for, but it does not last and it yields nothing. Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared. For love is secured by a bond of gratitude which men, wretched creatures that they are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; but fear is strengthened by a dread of punishment which is always effective. (54)
We Admire What Great People Achieve, But Detest their Means
[on the one hand admire what Hannibal achieved, and on the other condemn what made his achievements possible]
If it were not for Hannibal's cruelty, his other qualities would not have been enough. The historians, having given little thought to this, on the one hand, admire what Hannibal achieved, and on the other condemn what made his achievements possible. (55)
The Ideal Statesman: Learns From the Fox and the Lion
[one must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. Those who simply act as lions are stupid]
So, as a prince is forced to know how to act like a beast, he must learn from the fox and the lion; because the lion is defenseless against traps and a fox is defenseless against wolves. Therefore one must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. Those who simply act like lions are stupid. (56-57)
Men Are Won Over By The Present Far More Than By The Past
[ they content themselves with that and do not go looking for anything else]
Men are won over by the present far more than by the past; and when they decide that what is being done here and now is good, they content themselves with that and do not go looking for anything else. (77)
Fortune Compared To A Violent Flooding River
[Fortune shows her potency when there is no well-regulated power to resist her]
I compare fortune to one of those violent rivers which, when they are enraged, flood the plains, tear down trees and buildings, wash soil from one place to deposit it in another. Everyone flees before them, everybody yields to their impetus, there is no possibility of resistance. Yet although such is their nature, it does not follow that when they are flowing quietly one cannot take precautions, constructing dykes and embankments so that when the river is in flood they would keep to one channel or their impetus be less wild and dangerous. So it is with fortune. She shows her potency where there is no well-regulated power to resist her, and her impetus is felt where she knows there are no embankments and dykes built to restrain her. (79)
The Importance of Renewal
[If You Do Not Update Policy With the Times, Fortune Could Take Advantage]
I also believe that the one who adopts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not. (80)
Fortune Is A Woman
[Fortune favours young men because they are less circumspect and command her with greater audacity]
I conclude, therefore, that as fortune is changeable whereas men are obstinate in their ways, men prosper so long as fortune and policy are in accord, and when there is a clash they fail. I hold strongly to this: that it is better to be impetuous than circumspect; because fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her. Experience shows that she is more often subdued by men who do this than by those who act coldly. Always, being a woman, she favours young men, because they are less circumspect and more ardent, and because they command her with greater audacity. (81)