A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands.
— The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat, author, political philosopher and historian of the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for The Prince, a political treatise written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.
For many years he was a senior official of the Florentine Republic, serving as secretary to its second chancery from 1498 to 1512 while the Medici were out of power. When the Medici returned in 1512, he lost his post, was mistakenly suspected of treason and sent into exile, and a year later took up the life of a political writer. His name came to evoke the unscrupulous acts he recommended. The Prince is his most quoted work in our library.
For many years he was a senior official of the Florentine Republic, serving as secretary to its second chancery from 1498 to 1512 while the Medici were out of power. When the Medici returned in 1512, he lost his post, was mistakenly suspected of treason and sent into exile, and a year later took up the life of a political writer. His name came to evoke the unscrupulous acts he recommended. The Prince is his most quoted work in our library.
Most quoted works
- The Prince 47
Is it better to be loved or feared?
— The Prince
God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.
— The Prince
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command
— The Prince
In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
— The Prince
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.
— The Prince
Armour belonging to someone else either chops off you or weighs you down or is too tight
— The Prince
... I believe that he will prosper most whose mode of acting best adapts itself to the character of the times; and conversely that he will be unprosperous, with whose mode of acting the times do not accord.
— The Prince
Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.
— The Prince
Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.
— The Prince
If they lacked the opportunity, the strength of their sprit would have been sapped; if they had lacked ability, the opportunity would have been wasted.
— The Prince