Jon Stringfellow > Recent Status Updates

“If the soul has to stay in his coffin till the lead is struck asunder, in its captivity it speaks with such a voice.”

“[A] prince who wants to maintain his rule is often forced to not be good, because whenever that class of men on which you believe your continued rule depends is corrupt, whether it be the populace, or soldiers, or nobles, you have to satisfy it by adopting the same disposition; and then good deeds are your enemies” (p. 63)

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are” (p. 58)

“You are bound to meet misfortune if you are unarmed because, among other reasons, people despise you, and this, as I shall say later on, is one of the infamies a prince should be on his guard against” p. 48

“The nature of man is such that people consider themselves put under an obligation as much by the benefits they confer as by those they receive” (p.37)