There are three kinds of intellects: one understands things by itself, the other discerns what others understand, and the third understands neither by itself nor through others. The first is excellent, the second good, the third useless.
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
"Hence it comes that all armed prophets have conquered and unarmed ones have failed."
"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."
"Wise men say, and not without reason, that whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times."
"The promises of men are not to be relied on, unless they are made under such circumstances that the promiser cannot break them without ruin."
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.
Your cart is empty
