Machiavelli's The Prince in four ideas
The short answer
Machiavelli's 1513 manual in four ideas: hold power by skill against fortune's floods, be feared without hatred, and seem virtuous while staying armed.
Chapters and transcript
- 0:00
A manual for holding power
In 1513 Machiavelli, a dismissed Florentine official, wrote a plain-spoken handbook on how a new prince wins and keeps a state. It was printed in 1532.
- 0:07
Virtù against fortuna
Fortune is like a river in flood: violent, but dykes and banks can be built against it. Virtù is the skill and nerve that channel luck instead of being swept away.
- 0:14
Feared, yet not hated
It is safer to be feared than loved, he argues, because fear depends on you while love depends on others. But never be hated: keep your hands off your subjects' property.
- 0:21
Seem virtuous
A prince need not have every virtue, but he must seem to have them. Everyone sees what you appear to be; few touch what you really are — so appearances carry the day.