Matcha-velli

Another reason for a prince to rule through means other than love since the people’s affection is fickle

This concept is really interesting on how machiavelli views god and free will and how free will is only necessary to give humanity glory

A subject will remember the death of their king over the death of father showing the impact of how powerful a ruler can be in regard to control of their subjects

This quote aptly summarize Machiavelli’s values of power and ambition. To machiavelli, all the greatest people will be in hell and therefore it would be a pleasure to meet them verses the less ambition weaker people in heaven.

The best teacher is the past itself. Everything that will happen in the future has a root in the past and through this knowledge will mankind gain a new ability to predict the future.

In life, one’s determination depends on how difficult the task is. As long as you have the right mindset, you can do anything

By nature men are not very brave or even have most skills but instead all these qualities can be developed and grown in a man

if one does not act they have no idea of all the possibilities they are missing out so it is better to act and deal with the consequences then to never know the results

risk it for the biscuit

This is why machiavelli says no one ever sees the real person underneath because no one is willing to go beneath the surface to really understand a person.

It is not the actual status that gives men honor but instead the value that men place in titles gives them honor. A man gain honor not because they get the title but because they have great nobility of character that warrants a title

Machiavelli is very cynical about the nature of mankind. He believes most people would rather take the easy way out with a comforting lie than harsh reality. This is why it is very easy to deceive many people.

Deception is the most optimal way to gain anything because with physical force there is almost a guaranteed downside (guaranteed enemy or themselves being harmed in the process) while deception does have a chance of no downside if the one being deceived doesn’t realize

One possible fear a ruler may have is people around them lying and only telling them what they want to hear. A solution around this is by showing a ruler is receptive to all feedback so it’s instead more detriment to lie or flatter.

When establishing their power a ruler must fully crush anyone in their way so that they don’t even consider retaliating.

-Niccolo Machiavelli