This literally isnt true wtf

>The greatest of rulers is but a shadowy presence;
i dont get it? like rothschild aka no one knows them

he thinks that because he is so ugly

he means that with passage of time old rulers are romanticized. The less is known about a person the more people can project good stuff on to them.

No, pretty sure it's Daoist political philosophy, so the best ruler is the one who rules so successfully, modestly, and unobtrusively that people barely notice them in their lives.

Maybe, it's not. But if one quality were to be lacking, then it's preferable to inspire fear than love because fear is what keeps the masses in Check. That is, more or less, what he was getting at.

Hot

The Prince is good stuff and very modern to read. It wasn't his complete opinion on politics, though, he wrote quite a bit about republics too. His argument isn't that you should strive to be evil but that you must be strong and cunning as a ruler otherwise someone else will overtake you. Unless you are extremely powerful and extremely
lucky, this will inevitably require you to resort to actions that go against conventional morality.

If you read him and find it interesting I also suggest Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu.

Now this is a funny post.

fear and love together are hot! wtf

This is why the Chads get all the girls, why can't I be like that
>t.Veeky Forums

has autism always existed? he was probably just autistic OP

Chads get girls because they are loved not feared.

this advice doesn't pertain to plebs, dumbass. nobody cares if you're loved or hated.

Is Prince the ultimate fedora-core book of Machiaveli's time? Or it's legit good book with useful advises?

or both maybe? when you're a hot girl and all boys look like ez game to you, it's nice to find a dominant man who loves you but there are parts you admire, respect, and fear. like his hot throbbing cock or the way he handles you in bed? ??

Also curious desu (not that a tibetan yam smoking board is that reliable)

I want people to be afraid of how much they love me hahaha

Are you a 14th c. Italian prince who needs to consolidate power in a highly unstable period? If the answer is no, then most of the advice wont apply to you. However, if you're interested in political philosophy then you should definitely read it along with discourses on livy.

capitalize Livy for the love of GOD!

Stop making an effort to take advice from secluded men who mastered a craft which allowed them to immortalize their voice rather than find your peace of mind in a way which aligns with your views if the modern society*

*if that view be to believe our predecessors were more enlighten, then I advice western philosophy and/or accepting that the improving of our modern world always is greater than yourself, and pursue the endeavor with sacrifice and passion. Remember any and all loves will enter and stay of will rather than force, and those who will stay are those who recognize your efforts and in turn then share similar mindsets.

>Be loved
>Do something your subjects don't like
>Suddenly they turn on you

Vs

>Be feared
>Do something your subjects don't like
>They meekly go along with it to save their own skins

this is partially correct, the best ruler is one who is inaccessible to the ruled. you are always at risk of being murdered, your best chance for survival of your legacy is many degrees of separation between you and the power you project. This is the reason why cia operatives and corporate agents like finance bankers are given free reign to do as they please but always operate on behalf of higher powers who can deny any responsibility at all times. Proxy wars, shadow banking, clandestine financial investment like with Google are operating along the same principle. Obscurity, deception and theft define power relations and the nature of all hierarchies. Information is always leaking truth value and utility and you can exploit the susceptibility of biological systems to manipulation by playing off of this. The easiest method is just having fronts and agents who work on your behalf and many layers of programming for each layer of your pyramid scheme. The people at the top operate along different rules as they think long term, have more access to immediate information and do not have to worry anout being eliminated in the short term ever.

he means they are loved because of their high fitness you stupid fucking whore, that implies big dick and handsomeness, muscularity and being able to kill and take resources efficiently

I think that is supposed to be the prince, not Machiavelli

...

I'd say in modernity where nukes exist its actually the opposite now, he was living in a time where lances where the primary nuke of war. cmon now. just get with the metaphorical inversion based on what you see people living off of nowadays. I mean hillary was definitely a feared old crone more than she was falsely loved and she didn't win the presidency, olde dunce loveable trump won because he was just that Loveable. Not someone who was feared. Sure you can poke holes through that analogy but seriously, the clintons had upwards of 50 people killed and she didn't win what she thought she earned at least (the presidency) for all her years of false smiles and playing it safe politically hugging her husband.

The modern world demands Hug and kisses to walk your way to supremacy, you could argue thats how hitler got his power too.

To understand the context of the book as a whole, the book is dedicated to Cosomo di Medici no why TF would Machiavelli dedicate a book to the family who tortured him and almost had him killed twice?

The book is designed to seem like it offers useful advice to any C14th prince however it is of course one of the first texts that consolidates the idea of realpolitikk. The majority of the Medici familys power came from patronage and political marriages if they were to suddenly start ruling according to Machiavellis advice they would most likely have lost most of their allies and be preyed upon by the eternal enemy France.
Although the Prince is interesting a political viewpoint it is also one massive attempt to get revenge on the family that fucked Machiavellis life, wealth, and career.

Machiavelli was a fervent supporter of Italian reunification and wrote The Prince during a time where the pope was a member of the Medici family. There's an argument to be made that Machiavelli wanted a strong Italy first and foremost, and saw the window of opportunity with a strong Medici family in both Florence and the Papacy as having the best opportunity to achieve that. As such, it would make sense to give the sound advice. It's also notable that Machiavelli was commissioned by the Medici's to write "Florentine Histories" later in life, so the animosity may not have lasted between them.

kek

There's a difference between being feared and being hated.

You are right, pretty much.

...

Makes less sense when all the chads you know are social media whores who couldn't be expressing their insecurities harder if they tried

I think The Prince only really works for an autocratic point of view.

>a florentine man who lived during the historical transition of a medieval society in europe to the renaissance writes a book that was intended as a gift to the head of state of his local city (in which he previously worked as some sort of a diplomat) so he can get his job back
>he talks in the book about the differences between public (aristocratic) and individual morals when it comes to managing and maintaining a private state, things that were already widely known by all monarchs and heads of state since antiquity but not by the common people, so he could kind of "show off" to the guy he gave the book to as someone who understood how things really worked even though he was a commoner, and then kind of prove that he was fit for the job
>book leaks
>plebeians start reading and putting everything out of context thinking he was talking about them instead of a particular head of state who had to ensure security and prosperity to the state he was going to rule over so he can be a legitmate ruler
>600 years later
>hurrrr durrrrr machiavelli gives bad advice to me, because he obvioulsy wrote this books for me! And even though I think I'm the new ruler of medieval florence just like lorenzo, his advice is bad!! He is also autistic!

And that's why simple minded people can't get into philosophy, folks

This is your mind on /pol/

this is so fucking wrong and stupid

introduce yourself to the concept of competition. You can choose where to learn more, but in the end you have to act it out. Machiavelli is a better source than most of the acclaimed.

That's just a botticelli portrait

In politics it is.

According to his logic, the Greeks should be ignored unless you happen to live in a city state in 200BC

Please tell me in the modern day how much you need to know about levying an army from the constituents of a nations, or how much one can or can't trust mercenary forces. Or how mixed principalities vs republics operate differently, or how one should manage hereditary succession. Why someone should or shouldn't use fortresses and what a princes' military duties are. I'm not saying there isn't some useful information it it, but there is a great deal that isn't useful to the normal person in the modern day.