#machiavelli

[...] the state is not immoral but amoral; half of it exists outside morality ↗

— Jacques Barzun

#the-prince #life

[The prince] dare not let ethics keep him from doing whatever evil must be done to preserve himself and the state. ↗

— Jacques Barzun

#the-prince #life

From this arises the following question: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other, but because they are difficult to combine, it is far better to be loved than feared if you cannot be both. ↗

— Niccolò Machiavelli

#love #machiavelli #love

Stupidity trumps Machiavelli almost every time when you are looking for an explanation. ↗

— Robert Foster Bennett

#every #every time #explanation #looking #machiavelli

Master the rules of the game until you can play it better they can. ↗

— Michael Scott

#lesson #life #michael-scott #niccolo-machiavelli #the-sorceress

The political tradition of ancient thought, filtered in Italy by Machiavelli, says one thing clearly: every prince needs allies, and the bigger the responsibility, the more allies he needs. ↗

— Silvio Berlusconi

#ancient #bigger #clearly #every #filtered

What this White House really needs is a chief of staff who can read Machiavelli in the original Italian. ↗

— Mack McLarty

#house #italian #machiavelli #needs #original

Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of Parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith. ↗

— Lord Acton

#discussion #faith #good #good faith #government

In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli. ↗

— Howard Zinn

#follows #foreign #foreign policy #hangs #independence

BILLY: Did you ever watch Star Trek? MACHIAVELLI: Do I look like I watch Star Trek? BILLY: It's hard to tell who's a Trekkie. MACHIAVELLI: Billy, I ran one of the most sophisticated secret service organizations in the world. I did not have time for Star Trek. (pause) I was more of a Star Wars fan. Why do you ask? BILLY: Well, when Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock beamed down to a planet, usually with Dr. McCoy and sometimes with Scotty from engineering... MACHIAVELLI: Wait a minute--what's Mr. Spock again? BILLY: A Vulcan. MACHIAVELLI: His rank. BILLY: The first officer. MACHIAVELLI: So the captain, the first officer, the ship's doctor, and sometimes the engineer all beam down to a planet. Together. The entire complement of the senior officers? BILLY: (nods) MACHIAVELLI: And who has command of the ship? BILLY: (shrug) I don't know. Junior officers, I guess. MACHIAVELLI: If they worked for me I'd have them court-martialed. That sounds like a gross dereliction of duty. BILLY: I know. I always thought it was a little odd myself. ↗

— Michael Scott

#enchantress #getting-to-the-point #machiavelli #off-topic #star-trek