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15 Cards in this Set
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- Back
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What all prudent princes ought to do, who have to regard not only present troubles, but also future ones for which they must prepare with every energy; because when foreseen, it is easy to remedy them;
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but if you wait until they approach, the medicine is no longer in time because the malady has become incurable; in the beginning of th emalady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure.
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This it happens in affairs of state, for when the evils that arise have been forseen (which it is only given to a wise man to see), they can be quickly redressed,
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but when, through not having been forseen, they have been permitted to grow in a way that every one can see them, there is no longer a remedy.
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Let us enjoy the benefits of the time -
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for time drives everything before it, and is able to bring with it good as well as evil, and evil as well as good.
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Men, walking almost always in paths beaten by others, and following by imitation their deeds,"", are yet unable to keep entirely to the ways of others or attain to the power of those they imitate.
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A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate thougse who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it.
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Men injure from fear or hatred.
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He that believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is decieved.
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A prince cannot rely upon what he observes in quiet times, when citizens have need of the state, because then every one agrees with him; they all promise, and when death is far distant they all wish to die for him; but in troubled times, when the state has need of its citizens, then he finds but few.
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And so much the more is this experiment dangerous, inasmuch as it can only be tried once. Therefore a wise prince ought ot adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.
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But the scanty wisdom of man, on entering into an affair which looks well at first, cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it.
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To exercise the intellect the prince should read histories, and study there the actions of illustrious men, .... to examine the causes of their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former.
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A wise prince ought to observe some such rules and never in peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity, so that if fortune chances it may find him prepared to resist her blows.
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Pretexts for taking away the property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others;
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It is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.
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Without doubt princes become great when they overcome the difficulties and obstacles by which they are confronted.
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This is an axiom which never fails; that a prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice, unless by chance he has yielded his affairs entirely to one person who happens to be a very prudent man.
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I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.
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I say that a prince may be happy today and ruined tomorrow without having shown any change of disposition or character. The prince who relies entirely on fortune is lost when it changes.
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I believe also that he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times, and that he whose actions do not accord with the times will not be successful.
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All this arises from nothing else than whether or not they conform in their methods to the spirit of the times.
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God is not willing to do everything and thus take away our free will.
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