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Philosopher

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Niccolò Machiavelli

1469–1527 · Political realism · Renaissance

Niccolo Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat and writer, born in 1469, died in 1527. He served the republic, fell with the return of the Medici, and wrote The Prince in 1513, published after his death, and the Discourses on Livy, a republican book that readers of only The Prince never meet. The Prince asks how new principalities are acquired and held.

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It calculates fear and love, and it says fear is safer if one cannot have both, while hatred must still be avoided. It says fortune governs about half of what we do and leaves the rest, or close to it, to virtu, a capacity that is not moral virtue. The image is a river that can be dyked in fair weather.

He never wrote the slogan that the ends justify the means. He is not a cartoon of evil, and he is not a secret moralist whose calculations are only irony. The two books pull in different directions, princely and republican, and a serious reading keeps both. English versions differ. The Italian is the text.

Start here

The Prince, chapters 15 to 18 and chapter 25, then the opening of the Discourses

Those Prince chapters contain the calculations people already quote. The Discourses stop the calculations being mistaken for his whole mind.

Quotations

“Fortune is the arbiter of half our actions, but she still leaves the other half, or close to it, for us to govern.”

Niccolò Machiavelli · Political realism

changepowerfreedom
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“A prince who wants to maintain himself must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or not use it, according to necessity.”

Niccolò Machiavelli · Political realism

powerethicsvirtue
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered, and the unarmed ones have been destroyed.”

Niccolò Machiavelli · Political realism

powerchangesociety
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application

Key ideas

  • Fear and love

    If a prince cannot be both feared and loved, fear is safer, and hatred is still to be avoided.

  • Virtu and fortune

    Fortune governs roughly half of action, and virtu is the capacity to prepare for the rest, not moral goodness.

  • Two books

    The Prince is about new principalities, and the Discourses think about republics, so one volume is not the whole politics.

Major works

  • The Prince (1513, published 1532)

    On acquiring and holding new principalities. Chapters 17 and 25 carry the famous arguments.

  • Discourses on Livy (c. 1517, published 1531)

    Republican reflections on Rome. The necessary corrective to reading only The Prince.

  • The Art of War (1521)

    A dialogue on military organisation, closer to Florentine civic concern than to a proverb.

Influences

Influenced

Common misreadings

  • He wrote that the ends justify the means.
  • Safer to be feared than loved can be quoted without the condition that one cannot be both, and without the warning against hatred.

Topic hubs

Famous lines Niccolò Machiavelli never said

Misattributed means the library does not treat the sentence as theirs. Questionable means there is a real doubt, which is not the same as a proof they never wrote it. Both are listed here.

  • Misattributed

    “The ends justify the means.”

    Machiavelli never wrote this sentence. The Prince does discuss cases in which a ruler's cruel means are judged by the stability they produce, especially in chapter 18. That is an argument a reader can reject. It is not this slogan, which has no limits and no author.

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FAQ

What is the best book to start with?

The Prince, chapters 15 to 18 and chapter 25, then the opening of the Discourses Those Prince chapters contain the calculations people already quote. The Discourses stop the calculations being mistaken for his whole mind.

What is the most famous quote?

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Niccolò Machiavelli that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “It is much safer to be feared than loved, if one cannot be both.” (The Prince, chapter 17, Paraphrase or translation).

What is the most misquoted line?

The library marks this as Misattributed: “The ends justify the means.” Machiavelli never wrote this sentence. The Prince does discuss cases in which a ruler's cruel means are judged by the stability they produce, especially in chapter 18. That is an argument a reader can reject. It is not this slogan, which has no limits and no author.

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Fear and love: If a prince cannot be both feared and loved, fear is safer, and hatred is still to be avoided.