OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW EVIL AND MANIPULATIVE THIS IS!!!!>it's better to be feared than loved>be as cunning as a foxOMG THE MOST EVIL BOOK IVE READ ITS FULL OF SO MUCH EVIL!!!
>>24938077One of my managers had a full blown meltdown about me reading this on a work trip.
>>24938389lol can you elaborate? OP here. I had the same experience with a colleague who tried to play games with me and when he couldn't help but blurt how uncomfortable it made him feel that I had read this.. months after I actually told him in a passing comment
>>24938077>it's better to be feared than lovedi haven't read this in a while but i'm fairly certain this is a misquote
>>24938077I hate the prose in this book. It's annoying as fuck to read. It's like: >The man, for he was without family, the ultimate implication of which, while at once being the foundation of civilization, but then again the source of one's morality, is not only an indication of one's inner self, the nature of which may never truly be known, was of suspect character. The entire fucking book is like this.
>>24938397I was reading it at the hotel bar by myself when he and some other managers invited me to their table to drink with them. After a few rounds he asked what I was reading and I told him The Prince. To which he said "you would have to be evil to read that". No matter how much I tried to explain that, firstly, I haven't even finished it let alone agreed with it or put it into practice, but simply reading a "bad" book doesn't make me bad. Not to mention the actual content of the book is just what literally any shrewd politician has done for the past 500 years, for better or worse. He wouldn't concede anything and it became very awkward. Thankfully, another person at the table changed the topic to something lighter like exercise or something and we kept merrily drinking the night away. He has been weird with me ever since. Ironically, I have literally no ambition to rise up in the company from where I am now, and I was reading it out of sheer curiosity.
>>24938077 pussified christkeks hate it
>>24938425wow machiavelli wrote in english? crazy
>>24938425That’s just translated classical Italian 4 u, get good scrub>>24938432What’s your managers politics? Sounds like a sheltered shitlib. You should put some cunning realpolitik tactics to work to get them fired and take their job.
>>24938077Some people are really attached to this idea that the world follows some sort of moral order, that good things happen to good people, authority figures possess some sort of virtue that put them in that place, and that everyone gets their just deserts in the end.Usually they're superficially religious (despite most religions stressing the opposite position) and privileged enough to never have to ask any deep questions.Ironically it's people like this that provide cover for the Jeffry Epstein's of the world, but they'll be more upset at you pointing this out than the fact that they follow an ideology that empowers and glorifies some of the worst people in human history.
>>24938445I say manager but he is more like a VP. Probably some shitlib yeah, I don't work directly for him. There's nothing I could do to depose him without putting myself at risk and expending a lot of energy. I do the job for a paycheque, I couldn't give a fuck what he thinks thoughever
It's not as powerful as its reputation claims it is. And even if it was, it'd be perfectly fine to read it for self-defense. In any case, there's a modern take on the subject, far better written. There's even an 18-minute YouTube video that oulines the basics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs
>>24938403It's a bit of a simplification. He says something more along the lines that ideally you would be both feared and loved since there are advantages to both, but if you had to choose one, it's better to be feared, because people can be fickle with their love.
>>24938077I close read this book over the summer when I was 14 with the express intention to evilmax. Hardly remember anything except for discussion on German fortifications
>>24938803So it's not a misquote at all.
>>24938804>Hardly remember anything except for discussion on German fortificationsPretty sure he doesn't say anything forts
>>24938812>>24938812>A wise prince, then, is not troubled about a reproach for cruelty by which he keeps his subjects united and loyal because, giving a very few examples of cruelty, he is more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, let evils continue, from which result murders or plunder, because the latter commonly harm a whole group, but those executions that come from the prince harm individuals only.firstly he is talking about cruelty and mercy, which aren't strictly analogous to fear and love>The answer is that it is desirable to be both, but because it is difficult to join them together, it is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one ofthe two.secondly, he actually says it is much SAFER to be feared than loved, which is a truism. "better to be feared than loved" is the chapter title. once again, i am the only one has actually read machiavelli and understood him
>>24938838>The cities of Germany are absolutely free, they own but little country around them, and they yield obedience to the emperor when it suits them, nor do they fear this or any other power they may have near them, because theyare fortified in such a way that every one thinks the taking of them by assault would be tedious and difficult, seeing they have proper ditches and walls, they have sufficient artillery, and theyalways keep in public depots enough for one year’s eating, drinking, and firing. And beyond this, to keep the people quiet and without loss to the state, they always have the means of giving work to the community in those labours that are the life and strength of the city, and on the pursuit of which the people are supported; they also hold military exercises in repute, and moreover have many ordinances to uphold them.Started reading it because a girl I had a crush on in middle school made fun of me for still playing with LEGOs
