Machiavelli — "It is better to be a good prophet than a good poet."
It is better to be a good prophet than a good poet.
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More from Machiavelli
"The best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses, they will not save you if you are hated by the people."
"Men are always more easily deceived when they are trying to deceive others."
"A prince must be a fox, to know how to avoid snares; and a lion, to terrify wolves."
"It is much more difficult to injure one who is loved than one who is hated."
"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both."
About Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Florentine diplomat and political theorist whose The Prince (written 1513) became the founding text of political realism and gave us the adjective 'Machiavellian.' Closely associated with Francesco Guicciardini (fellow Florentine political analyst and historian). For an intellectual contrast, see Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch humanist and The Education of a Christian Prince author (1516) — Erasmus's princely-instruction manual was published three years after Machiavelli's, for the same European audience, and is the explicit Christian-virtue alternative to Machiavellian power-realism. The cleanest 'realism vs idealism' founding pairing in modern political theory.