The Prince

Machiavelli's handbook for a ruler, written for Lorenzo de' Medici, on how principalities are won, held and lost, and on why a prince must sometimes act against faith, charity and religion to keep his state.

Start reading27 chapters, about 31,000 words

Famous quotes

• Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot

  Chapter IIIIn context

  • Enemies
  • Power

• Time drives everything before it, and is able to bring with it good as well as evil, and evil as well as good.

  Chapter IIIIn context

  • Good & Evil
  • Time

• There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

  Chapter VIIn context

  • Change
  • Leadership

• The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.

  Chapter XIIIn context

  • Laws
  • Power

• A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules

  Chapter XIVIn context

  • Leadership
  • War & Peace

• Rhis is to be asserted in general of men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed, are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life, and children…when the need is far distant; but when it approaches, they will turn against you.

  In context

• The first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him

  Chapter XXIIIn context

  • Character
  • Leadership

• A prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice

  Chapter XXIIIIn context

  • Advice
  • Leadership
  • Wisdom

• Where the willingness is great the difficulties cannot be great

  Chapter XXVIIn context

  • Motivation & Goals

Contents

1. DedicationTo the Magnificent Lorenzo Di Piero De’ Medici
2. Chapter IHow Many Kinds of Principalities There Are, and by What Means They Are Acquired
3. Chapter IIConcerning Hereditary Principalities
4. Chapter IIIConcerning Mixed Principalities
5. Chapter IVWhy the Kingdom of Darius, Conquered by Alexander, Did Not Rebel Against the Successors of Alexander at His Death
6. Chapter VConcerning the Way to Govern Cities or Principalities Which Lived Under Their Own Laws Before They Were Annexed
7. Chapter VIConcerning New Principalities Which Are Acquired by One’s Own Arms and Ability
8. Chapter VIIConcerning New Principalities Which Are Acquired Either by the Arms of Others or by Good Fortune
9. Chapter VIIIConcerning Those Who Have Obtained a Principality by Wickedness
10. Chapter IXConcerning a Civil Principality
11. Chapter XConcerning the Way in Which the Strength of All Principalities Ought to Be Measured
12. Chapter XIConcerning Ecclesiastical Principalities
13. Chapter XIIHow Many Kinds of Soldiery There Are, and Concerning Mercenaries
14. Chapter XIIIConcerning Auxiliaries, Mixed Soldiery, and One’s Own
15. Chapter XIVThat Which Concerns a Prince on the Subject of the Art of War
16. Chapter XVConcerning Things for Which Men, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed
17. Chapter XVIConcerning Liberality and Meanness
18. Chapter XVIIConcerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than Feared
19. Chapter XVIIIConcerning the Way in Which Princes Should Keep Faith
20. Chapter XIXThat One Should Avoid Being Despised and Hated
21. Chapter XXAre Fortresses, and Many Other Things to Which Princes Often Resort, Advantageous or Hurtful?
22. Chapter XXIHow a Prince Should Conduct Himself So as to Gain Renown
23. Chapter XXIIConcerning the Secretaries of Princes
24. Chapter XXIIIHow Flatterers Should Be Avoided
25. Chapter XXIVWhy the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States
26. Chapter XXVWhat Fortune Can Effect in Human Affairs and How to Withstand Her
27. Chapter XXVIAn Exhortation to Liberate Italy from the Barbarians