Niccolo Machiavelli

W K Marriott

Written during the tumultuous Renaissance period,

The Prince

I think before we start taking what Machiavelli has written in "The Prince" too much to heart, we need to consider what we know of his life, or the lives of Cesare Borgia and Lorenzo de' Medici, and how we can assess them from the privileged view of the 21st century. A lot of what is in the book is a little bit of common sense, for anyone who has studied history (admittedly, we have the benefit of an additional 5 centuries of it); a lot of it also sounds like a bit that Machiavelli was doing in order to impress Lorenzo de' Medici.

But I need whoever is reading this to know that sometimes you are not a cunning politically-wise statesman for killing your enemies, sometimes you are just an asshole.

Wildest cover letter in human history.

I think before we start taking what Machiavelli has written in "The Prince" too much to heart, we need to consider what we know of his life, or the lives of Cesare Borgia and Lorenzo de' Medici, and how we can assess them from the privileged view of the 21st century. A lot of what is in the book is a little bit of common sense, for anyone who has studied history (admittedly, we have the benefit of an additional 5 centuries of it); a lot of it also sounds like a bit that Machiavelli was doing in order to impress Lorenzo de' Medici.

But I need whoever is reading this to know that sometimes you are not a cunning politically-wise statesman for killing your enemies, sometimes you are just an asshole.

Aske Dørge

Read it because it’s a historical and cultural reference. Wouldn’t recommend it. Some sicko could surely derive some lessons from it re. running a company ala The Art of War, but I wouldn’t want to work with that person.

The Prince

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