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Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince Kindle Edition

by Niccolò Machiavelli (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Politicians have the reputation of being power-hungry manipulators. What you might not know is that the image of the modern politician may actually have roots in the 500-year-old document called "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli. "The Prince" is a political treatise describing the less-than-honorable but all-too-realistic methods politicians (still) use to secure their power.

Machiavelli wrote "The Prince" within two years after he was driven from office. A surviving letter indicates that the first title for it was “On Principalities.” The work was not published until 1532.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Lorenzo de' Medici seized control of the Florentine Republic in 1512, he summarily fired the Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Signoria and set in motion a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. The person who held the aforementioned office with the tongue-twisting title was none other than Niccolò Machiavelli, who, suddenly finding himself out of a job after 14 years of patriotic service, followed the career trajectory of many modern politicians into punditry. Unable to become an on-air political analyst for a television network, he only wrote a book. But what a book The Prince is. Its essential contribution to modern political thought lies in Machiavelli's assertion of the then revolutionary idea that theological and moral imperatives have no place in the political arena. "It must be understood," Machiavelli avers, "that a prince ... cannot observe all of those virtues for which men are reputed good, because it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, in order to preserve the state." With just a little imagination, readers can discern parallels between a 16th-century principality and a 20th-century presidency. --Tim Hogan --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Publisher

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince . . . a king . . . a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince he envisioned would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Book Description

A new translation of Machiavelli's political classic argues that the work was an attack on the advice-books for princes published by his contemporaries as well as a response to the world of Florentine politics. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

Richardson is speaking one-to-one. He is personal, intimate, confidential. That is at it should be., The Guardian

A publishing bull's-eye., The Scotsman

Rarely has the combination of reader and text been put to such explosive effect., The Guardian --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Book Description

The groundbreaking sixteenth-century political treatise that remains just as important today --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

There is something stimulating in Machiavelli's forthrightness. Reading him, we are brought face to face, as nowhere else so vividly, with a question that few philosophers had dared to discuss: is statesmanship bound by morality? --Will Durant, author of The Story of Civilization --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

“[Machiavelli] can still engage our attention with remarkable immediacy, and this cannot be explained solely by the appeal of his ironic observations on human behaviour. Perhaps the most important thing is the way he can compel us to reflect on our own priorities and the reasoning behind them; it is this intrusion into our own defenses that makes reading him an intriguing experience. As a scientific exponent of the political art Machiavelli may have had few followers; it is as a provocative rhetorician that he has had his real impact on history.” –from the Introduction by Dominic Baker-Smith --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Niccolò Machiavelli to His Magnificence Lorenzo de’ Medici1

Those who wish to win the favor of a prince will generally approach him with gifts of what they value most or what they believe will most delight him. Hence we see princes being offered horses, arms, vestments of gold, precious stones, and similar accoutrements worthy of their grandeur. Wishing to present myself to Your Magnificence with a token of my deepest respect, I have found among my possessions nothing that I value or esteem higher than my knowledge of the deeds of great men. I have acquired this knowledge through my long experience of modern affairs and a lifelong study of ancient times, all of which I have weighed and examined with great diligence and brought together into this small volume, which I am now offering to Your Magnificence. Though I deem this work unworthy of being in Your illustrious presence, my confidence in Your benevolence persuades me that it will be accepted, and that Your Magnificence will recognize that I cannot offer You a greater gift than the prospect of Your understanding in the shortest period all that I have experienced and learned over so many years and with so much danger and hardship. I have not filled this volume with pompous rhetoric, with bombast and magnificent words, or with the unnecessary artifice with which so many writers gild their work. I wanted nothing extraneous to ornament my writing, for it has been my purpose that only the range of material and the gravity of the subject should make it pleasing. Nor do I wish it to be thought presumptuous that a man of low and humble condition like myself should presume to map out and direct the government of princes. But just as a cartographer will descend into the plains in order to study the nature of the mountains, and will then climb the highest peaks in order to study the low-lying land, so, too, only an exalted prince can grasp the nature of the people, and only a lesser man can perceive the nature of a prince.

I hope therefore that Your Magnificence will accept this humble gift in the spirit in which it is offered. Should You condescend to read and consider it carefully, You will perceive in its pages my profound desire that Your Magnificence will rise to the greatness that Fortune and Your qualities promise. And should Your Magnificence deign to look down from the lofty summit of Your eminence to these lowly depths, You will see how I have suffered undeservedly Fortune’s great and continuing malignity.

1. Lorenzo de’ Medici (1492—1519) was the grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Chapter One
Of the kinds of principalities that exist, and how they can be acquired

All states, all dominions that rule or have ruled over men, are or have been either republics or principalities. Principalities are either hereditary, with a long-established bloodline, or new. And the new principalities are either entirely new, as Milan was to Francesco Sforza2, or are like limbs added to the hereditary state of the prince who acquires them, as the Kingdom of Naples was to the King of Spain3. States obtained in this way are accustomed either to living under a prince, or to being free. They are acquired either with the arms of others, or with one’s own, either by chance or by skill.

2. Francesco Sforza (1401—66) was a soldier of fortune who became Duke of Milan in 1450.
3. Ferdinand the Catholic (1452—1516), King of Aragon, also became Ferdinand III of Naples in 1504.

Chapter Two
Of hereditary principalities

I will not discuss republics, as I have already done so at some length elsewhere. I shall only concentrate on principalities, and shall weave together the threads I have already laid out. I will show how these principalities can be governed and main- tained.

First, states that are hereditary and tied to the bloodline of their prince are easier to maintain than new ones. It is enough not to diverge from the practices of one’s forebears, and to handle unforeseen issues as they arise. If such a prince is of at least average ability he can retain his posi- tion of power, so long as no extraordinary or excessive force deprive him of it. If this prince is deprived of his state, he will find he can reacquire it if any misfortune befalls the usurper.

In Italy we have the example of the Duke of Ferrara, who resisted the assaults of the Venetians in 1484 and of Pope Julius II in 1510, for the simple reason that he had inherited an ancient principality4. A hereditary prince has less cause to mistreat his subjects, and so is more loved by them. If unusual vices do not make him hated, it is to be expected that he will be loved by his people.

The long continuum of the dominion obliterates the memories and issues that make men yearn for innovation, for one change will inevitably forge a link to another.

4. In fact, Duke Ercole d’Este of Ferrara managed to end the war with Venetians in 1484, while his son Duke Alfonso managed to stay in power despite excommunication and an ongoing war with the papal forces.

Chapter Three
Of mixed principalities

It is in the new principality that the difficulties lie. First, if the principality is not completely new, but is like a limb or extension added to another principality (in which case we could almost call the whole state a mixed principality), its volatility stems mainly from a difficulty inherent in all new principalities. This is that men will willingly change their ruler in the hope that they will fare better, a hope that leads them to take up arms against their old ruler. But in this they are deceived, because, as they invariably discover, their lot under a new ruler is inevitably worse. This is the result of another natural and basic inevitability: that you cannot avoid offending those whose new ruler you are, both with your armed soldiers and with innumerable other provocations that come in the wake of a conquest. You end up making enemies of all those you have offended during your conquest of the principality, and you find that you cannot keep the friendship of those who helped you to power, since you cannot satisfy them in the way they had envisioned. Furthermore, you cannot take strong measures against them, as you are indebted to them. Even with the most powerful army, if you want to invade a state, you need the support of the people. It was for these reasons that King Louis XII of France was quick to occupy Milan, and just as quick to lose it. Duke Ludovico’s own forces were enough to win Milan back the first time, because the same masses that had opened the gates for Louis, finding themselves misled in their hopes for a better future, could not endure the new prince’s offenses5.

It is a fact that once a prince acquires a rebellious state for the second time, it also proves harder to lose that state a second time6. This is because the prince who seizes the opportunity of the rebellion has fewer scruples about securing his position by punishing offenders, flushing out suspects, and strengthening all the places where he is weakest. In this sense, it was enough for a Duke Ludovico to make a little noise along the borders for Louis XII to lose Milan the first time. But for him to lose Milan a second time the whole world had to unite against him, defeat his army, and chase it out of Italy7. This followed from the causes I have already laid out. Nonetheless, both the first and second time, Milan was taken from him.

The general reasons for the first loss have been discussed. It now remains to discuss the second, and to see what recourse someone in Louis’s position could have taken to maintain himself more securely in his new acquisition. I must stress that the states a prince acquires and adds to his own are either of the same country and language, or are not. If they are it is much easier to retain them, particularly if they are not used to freedom. To hold them securely, it is enough to extinguish the line of the previous prince who ruled them. As for the rest, if the new acquisition’s former state of affairs is kept and there is no difference in customs, men will live quite peacefully, as we have seen in Burgundy, Brittany, Gascony, and Normandy, which for a long time now have all belonged to France. Although there is some difference in language, their customs are similar, and their people get along with one another quite easily. He who acquires such states and wishes to retain them has to make sure of two things: that the bloodline of their former princes is extinguished, and that their laws and taxes remain the same. This way, the prince’s new state merges with the old, quickly becoming a single body.

But difficulties arise when you acquire states in a land with differing languages, customs, and laws. To keep these states, you need good fortune and much diligence. One of the best and quickest solutions is for the new prince to go and live in his new state. This makes the possession more durable and secure. The Turk did this in Greece8. With all the other measures he took to keep Greece in his possession, had he not gone to live there he would not have succeeded, because once the prince is established within his new state he is able to see problems as they arise and can remedy them. If he is not there, problems become obvious only once they are dire and can no longer be remedied. Furthermore, if he is present, his new state will not be looted by his officials, and his new subjects can enjoy immediate access to their prince. This will give them more reason to love him if they are on his side, and to fear him if they are not, and foreign powers wishing to attack his state will respect him more. Hence, if the prince lives in his new state, it is difficult for him to lose it.

Another efficient remedy is to set up colonies in one or two places that will act as the shackles of your new state. If you do not set up colonies, you will have to send a great number of troops to secure it, while a colony can be established and maintain... --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From AudioFile

This political science classic still has the power to shock, just as it did when first published almost five hundred years ago. Fritz Weaver reads in an appropriately detached manner, for it is this air of objectivity regarding the ruthless pursuit of political power that has made Machiavelli's name synonymous with evil. This quality recording begins and ends with ceremonial music, which sets the right tone for a treatise directed to royalty. The unadorned audio performance offers an opportunity to focus on the text of this classic. Weaver reads with conviction, making deceit and immorality sound reasonable in the quest to govern. C.A.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

That Machiavelli's name has become synonymous with cold-eyed political calculation only heightens the intrinsic fascination of The Prince - the world's pre-eminent how-to manual on the art of getting and keeping power, and one of the literary landmarks of the Italian Renaissance. Written in a vigorous, straightforward style which reflects its author's realism, this treatise on states, statecraft, and the ideal ruler is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how human society actually works. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Niccolò Machiavelli (May 1469 – 21 June 1527), or more formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, was an Italian Renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer. He has often been called the founder of modern political science. He was for many years a senior official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language. He was secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his most renowned work The Prince (Il Principe) in 1513. "Machiavellianism" is a widely used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians of the sort Machiavelli described most famously in The Prince. Machiavelli described immoral behavior, such as dishonesty and killing innocents, as being normal and effective in politics. He even seemed to endorse it in some situations. The book itself gained notoriety when some readers claimed that the author was teaching evil, and providing "evil recommendations to tyrants to help them maintain their power." The term "Machiavellian" is often associated with political deceit, deviousness, and realpolitik. On the other hand, many commentators, such as Baruch Spinoza, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot, have argued that Machiavelli was actually a republican, even when writing The Prince, and his writings were an inspiration to Enlightenment proponents of modern democratic political philosophy. In one place for example he noted his admiration for the selfless Roman dictator Cincinnatus. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Author

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher and writer of the Renaissance period. As a young Florentine envoy to the courts of France and the Italian principalities, he witnessed firsthand how people could be united under a powerful leader. This vision motivated his writing on acquiring and maintaining political power.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

Introduction by Dominic Baker-Smith; Translation by W. K. Marriott --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07S6DHK2Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ E-BOOKARAMA (October 1, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 1, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1057 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 157 pages

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Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine statesman who was later forced out of public life. He then devoted himself to studying and writing political philosophy, history, fiction, and drama.
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The virtues of Machiavelli

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 3, 2005

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In the course of my political science training, I studied at great length the modern idea of realpolitik. In that study I came to realise that it was somewhat incomplete, without the companionship of The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, a Florentine governmental official in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The Prince is an oft quoted, oft mis-quoted work, used as the philosophical underpinning for much of what is considered both pragmatic and wrong in politics today. To describe someone as being Machiavellian is to attribute to the person ruthless ambition, craftiness and merciless political tactics. Being believed to be Machiavellian is generally politically incorrect. Being Machiavellian, alas, can often be politically expedient.

Machiavelli based his work in The Prince upon his basic understanding of human nature. He held that people are motivated by fear and envy, by novelty, by desire for wealth, power and security, and by a hatred of restriction. In the Italy in which he was writing, democracy was an un-implemented Greek philosophical idea, not a political structure with a history of success; thus, one person's power usually involved the limitation of another person's power in an autocratic way.

Machiavelli did not see this as a permanent or natural state of being -- in fact, he felt that, during his age, human nature had been corrupted and reduced from a loftier nobility achieved during the golden ages of Greece and Rome. He decided that it was the corrupting influence of Christianity that had reduced human nature, by its exaltation of meekness, humility, and otherworldliness.

Machiavelli has a great admiration for the possible and potential, but finds himself inexorably drawn to the practical, dealing with situations as they are, thus becoming an early champion of realpolitik carried forward into this century by the likes of Kissinger, Thatcher, Nixon, and countless others. One of the innovations of Machiavelli's thought was the recognition that the prince, the leader of the city/state/empire/etc., was nonetheless a human being, and subject to all the human limitations and desires with which all contend.

Because the average prince (like the average person) is likely to be focussed upon his own interests, a prince's private interests are generally in opposition to those of his subjects. Fortunate is the kingdom ruled by a virtuous prince, virtue here not defined by Christian or religious tenets, but rather the civic virtue of being able to pursue his own interests without conflicting those of his subjects.

Virtue is that which increases power; vice is that which decreases power. These follow Machiavelli's assumptions about human nature. Machiavelli rejected the Platonic idea of a division between what a prince does and what a prince ought to do. The two principle instruments of the prince are force and propaganda, and the prince, in order to increase power (virtue) ought to employ force completely and ruthlessly, and propaganda wisely, backed up by force. Of course, for Machiavelli, the chief propaganda vehicle is that of religion.

Whoever reads Roman history attentively will see in how great a degree religion served in the command of the armies, in uniting the people and keeping them well conducted, and in covering the wicked with shame.

Machiavelli has been credited with giving ruthless strategies (the example of a new political ruler killing the deposed ruler and the ruler's family to prevent usurpation and plotting is well known) -- it is hard to enact many in current politics in a literal way, but many of his strategies can still be seen in electioneering at every level, in national and international relations, and even in corporate and family internal 'politics'. In fact, I have found fewer more Machiavellian types than in church politics!

Of course, these people would be considered 'virtuous' in Machiavellian terms -- doing what is necessary to increase power and authority.

The title of this piece -- the virtues of Machiavelli, must be considered in this frame; certainly in no way virtuous by current standards, but then, it shows, not all have the same standards. Be careful of the words you use -- they may have differing definitions.

Perhaps if Machiavelli had lived a bit later, and been informed by the general rise of science as a rational underpinning to the world, he might have been able to accept less of a degree of randomness in the universe. Perhaps he would have modified his views. Perhaps not -- after all, the realpolitikers of this age are aware of the scientific framework of the universe, and still pursue their courses.

This is an important work, intriguing in many respects. Far shorter than the average classical or medieval philosophical tome, and more accessible by current readers because of a greater familiarity with politics than, say, metaphysics or epistemology, this work yields benefits and insights to all who read, mark, inwardly digest, and critically examine the precepts.

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sonny conder

Old translation is fun to read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 28, 2022

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I definitely got my 19 cents worth. Well worth it to experience the mentality of 14th through 16th century Italy. After 60 years of overlooking the book, I finally took time to read it. Almost no one in politics today would be up to Machiavelli's standards

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BoomRoasted

Great book and great price

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 29, 2022

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Worth the read for the price

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Kevin

Arrived on time for class

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 16, 2022

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Book came in good condition. Needed it for class and it came fairly quick.

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P. H.

A Delightful Read -- Reads Like Modern Poetry

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2014

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After having read this delightful translation of The Prince, I want to return to one of my favorite cities in Italy -- Florence.

I don't know the Italian language except that I love hearing operas sung in Italian. (I studied a little Spanish in my younger days.)

This book is delightful to read for numerous reasons, among the primary ones are the author's instructive notes and translation that renders Machiavelli writing poetic and readily accessible -- it reads like contemporary writing with Italian operatic pageantry, marvel and excitement, which I believe accurately reflects Machiavelli's Renaissance Florence. Professor William J. Connell delivers the goods: "Machiavelli's language is more immediate and much less abstract and 'impersonal' than commonly believed."

By today's standards, the lessons captured by Machiavelli in The Price are not earth-shattering and seem almost over-simplified. Yet, they will likely continue to resonate for centuries to come because Machiavelli captured the essence of human instincts, needs, desires and aspirations. Politics and governance involve harnessing all available resources through human beings. And in warfare, the United States and allied forces realized the efficacy of winning the "hearts and minds" of the local people in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Machiavelli teaches in The Price.

In Chapter 19, Machiavelli instructs: "the price should think . . . to avoid those things that could make him hateful and contemptible, and whenever he will avoid this thing, he will have fulfilled his duties and he will not find any peril at all in the other infamies. It makes him hateful . . . if he is rapacious and the usurper of the property and women of his subjects, from which he should abstain. And whenever he does not take away property or honor from the generality of men they live content."

In Chapter 21, we get a lesson on (modern) Economics 101 from Niccolo Machiavelli:

"A prince must also show himself a lover of the virtues by giving hospitality to virtuous men, and he must honor those who are excellent in an art. Next, he must encourage his citizens to be able quietly to practice their trades, in commerce, in agriculture and in every other human occupation, so that one man is not afraid to improve his properties for fear they will be taken from him, and another is not afraid to open a business for fear of taxes. . . .[A]t the appropriate times of the year he should keep his people occupied with feast-days and spectacles. And because every city is divided into guilds and wards, he should take account of those collectives, meet with them sometimes, and offer himself as an example of humanity and munificence, while nonetheless always keeping firm his dignity's majesty[.]"

Machiavelli observes: "And men as a whole judge more with their eyes than their hands, because everyone is permitted to see, but few are permitted to touch. (Ch. 18.)

Machiavelli cautions: "For even if you have fortresses, if the people hold you in hatred, the fortresses do not save you, since outsiders who will help them are never lacking for the people once they have taken up arms." (Ch. 20.)

Professor Connell makes Machiavelli (and Italy's history) come alive; his translations make The Price accessible and delightful to read. This work is a book in its own right and I expect it will remain accessible to many future generations of readers. This book is certainly timeless.

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DonMiguel

Is it better to be loved or feared?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2022

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Machiavelli’s The Prince contemplates whether it is better for a ruler to be loved or feared by his people. This is a quick read and a unique insight into the ruling class of Renaissance Italy.

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Top reviews from other countries

Michelle

1 Star

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 30, 2019

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So, it seems there has been a bit of a mix up.

I'm a Tupac fan and having read an article that mentioned that Tupac read this book while in prison and found it profoundly enlightening I decided it was a must read for me, I clicked and its sat on the kindle for almost two years , until now.

I had no idea what this was about, I just assumed I was going to read a fairly raucous fictional story about a Prince.

So you can imagine my shock when I read the opening chapter, i very quickly realised that when it comes to book recommendations, Tupac and me are not compatible.

I feel bad for giving this a one star as this is entirely my fault however it meets all the criteria, I had to drag myself through, I understood little and the only satisfaction I received was reaching the end.

Sorry Machiavelli.

59 people found this helpful

Sathish Chandrasekaran

European Version of Chanakya’s “Arthasasthra” !

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on February 6, 2018

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Niccolo Machiavelli is the “Chanakya” of Europe !

Having read “Art of War” & “Arthasasthra” I was still able to enjoy Niccolo’s observations of Politics, War, Emperors & Republic.

It’s a very condensed read & it’s not written in simple English, so following the chapters was not that easy.

The famous examples of Roman Emperors & Other Famous Conquerors illustrated by Niccolo were to the point but his examples with the Politics of Italy when he was alive was very hard to follow since it had too many characters.

The Latter Chapter was a mini-history of Italian Politics of the day which I mostly skipped through.

But the points put forth by Niccolo rings true to even this day & age; students, businessmen & politicians alike have something here to read & ponder !

115 people found this helpful

Lark

A great narration, consistent for the most part

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 24, 2021

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This is a great narration, clear, consistent for the most part (with possible exception of chapter 24, in which there is a real change in quality, although this dip in quality is not for the entire chapter or remaining chapters), there may be some mispronunciation of Italian names and place names, I am not sure myself, what I did notice was not that significant. There are 32 or there about sections to the MP3 CD which makes it sufficient to fill a number of journeys if you are listening to this in a car during a commute as I was. I think this is excellent and at a really good affordable price too.

The content, well, the content is by Niccolo Machavelli, its THE book that he's known for, even if he did write narratives on warfare, the history of the Roman republics (referenced in the first chapter of this book as he explains he dealt with the topic of principalities here and the alternatives elsewhere). In this book Machavelli writes a guide to realpolitik and statecraft for a prince, this is how to seize power, exercise power and keep a hold of power for posterity. The central point of the book is similar to that of Mandeville's Fable of The Bees, that other authors writing about virtues, good character, good conduct are all misleading and ruinous, at least for anyone in public office or government. Instead, the business of government is perfidious mendacity, no designs for improvement are wise.

According to Machavelli people are wicked and can not be made otherwise by how they are governed, though they could well become worse by being indulged too much. He has a lot of really great one liners to illustrate it, such as men being quicker to forget their fathers than their inheritance/legacies if they are lost, if any injury should be done to anyone it should be great enough that you need to fear revenge.

There are interesting meditations on fortune, who can command fortune, who cant, Machavelli tries to explain how all is not fortune, the actions people take matter, he believes following his recommendations matter, but also that fortune has a role to play too. I have read elsewhere this has something to do with being a virtuoso, being ready to "ride that wave" or use opportunities as they present themselves.

Finally, a big part of Machavelli's idea is the "great men" theory of history, rather than developments in production, distribution, technology it is the greatness of leaders and governors that matters. It is stories of the great men of history that Machavelli uses to illustrate all his points, in the final chapters he describes his archetypical Prince and supplies a number of witty quotations. These are excellent and are worth the cover price alone, I could listen and relisten to them alone and have tried to commit a few to memory.

2 people found this helpful

Mike707

"Impossible to comprehend"!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 19, 2020

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I often wanted to know more about "Machiavellian" and "Machiavelli. It is a short book (thankfully), but I found it so hard to read. There are very long sentences and paragraphs with complex vocabulary. I inserted a random block of text into a "Readability Calculator" and the score was 19 meaning "impossible to comprehend". They maybe more modern translations or interpretations out there, but this certainly is not one of them.

6 people found this helpful

Simon Shepherd

Fantastic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 6, 2021

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I wasn't sure if I was going to like this but I loved it. The most interesting thing about this short book, is that Machiavelli uses lots of historical examples to support what he is trying to convey. So it's just as much an interesting work of history as it is one of politics. The translation was very easy to read. Those who haven't read the book (or haven't read it properly) might think of Machiavelli in negative, almost amoral, terms, but this would be unfair. He is merely trying to offer useful advice to a ruler who needs to survive in the cut-throat world of late medieval Italian politics. One needs to consider the context in which he is writing, which is a very different world to our own.

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