a book

The Prince

Name: The Prince
Rating: 5 (14 reviews)
Author: Niccolo Machiavelli
ISBN: 9780486272740

Niccolo Machiavelli · 2014 · 46 pages

For nearly 500 years, Machiavelli's observations on Realpolitik have shocked and appalled the timid and romantic, and for many his name was equivalent to the devil's own. Yet, 'The Prince' was the first attempt to write of the world of politics as it is, rather than sanctimoniously of how it should be, and thus 'The Prince' remains as honest and relevant today as when Machiavelli first put quill to parchment, and warned the junior statesman to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.

recommended by 14 people

sourced from public statements

Neil Degrasse Tyson
““To learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it.” -NdT”↗
Éric Ripert
“Given the current political climate, I have found myself picking up and flicking through The Prince on more than one occasion over the past year. It seems manipulation and questionable political conduct is very much alive and well! A fascinating study and still wholly relevant.”↗
Robert Greene
“I must have been 15 or so I when got a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince… It had no relevance to my life in high school, obviously, but I loved the brutal realism of it. I loved the fact that he was looking at human beings as if we are these animals that we are, and he was analyzing it without all the usual guilt – all the usual moralism that’s going on in the world. He was just presenting us as we are. I didn’t really understand experientially what he was talking about but the style, the clarity, the pragmatism, the beautiful language entranced me. And so I probably read that book six or seven times over the years.”↗
Genevieve Guenther
“Everyone in politics should read Machiavelli's *The Prince*. That book argues that a core principle of power is that the prince governs by creating both love and fear: holding out a carrot to his supporters but also being willing to destroy his opponents with a stick.”↗
Garry Tan
Ryan Holiday
Patrick Bet-David
Stewart Brand
Ryan Shea
Fred Wilson
Peregrine Worsthorne
Kenneth Bartlett
Jonathan Powell
Mark Bloomfield