Hi friends and happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m back with another classic read! Today I’m posting my reading update thoughts on The Prince by: Niccolò Machiavelli.

Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term?
1. So it is that to know the nature of a people, one need be a Prince; to know the nature of a Prince, one need to be of the people.
2. If a Prince is not given to vices that make him hated, it is unsusal for his subjects to show their affection for him.
3. Opportunity made Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and others; their virtue domi-nated the opportunity, making their homelands noble and happy. Armed prophets win; the disarmed lose.
4. Without faith and religion, man achieves power but not glory.
5. Prominent citizens want to command and oppress; the populace only wants to be free of oppression.
6. A Prince needs a friendly populace; otherwise in diversity there is no hope.
7. A Prince, who rules as a man of valor, avoids disasters,
8. Nations based on mercenary forces will never be solid or secure.
9. Mercenaries are dangerous because of their cowardice
10. There are two ways to fight: one with laws, the other with force. The first is rightly man’s way; the second, the way of beasts.

Goodreads synopsis

My next classic read is short, but has a lot of info. It’s not dense per se. Because I’m actually enjoying reading it, but it’s reading like a manual… but an interesting manual. So, I went into this knowing nothing, I’ve heard of Machiavelli, but I had no idea what he was about. I started this and I went ‘huh this sounds a lot like Art of War’ where there are concepts and ideas for war and how they can be used in every day life, Machiavelli is the same way but less focused on war and more so on conquering and being a ruler. How to be the best prince, basically. I don’t know, there’s something about it that has me entranced every time I start reading it. Maybe it’s the words, but I feel like I get sucked in and I can’t help but find it so fascinating. I look forward to continuing! 

This was such a fascinating read; a look into the mind from centuries ago and how the concepts in this can still be relevant today. A lot like, Art of War, this had many concepts and ideas that one can look at and use, but there was something about the Prince that held my attention more and I just enjoyed more. I don’t know if it was his view on life or what, but I found myself submerged into this and fully engaged. Some ideas were more out there than others, but it was all really interesting. I also think that this is a book that you need to read more than once to fully absorb it all. I know there were a few passages I read more than once to fully grasp what he was saying, but I could definitely see myself flipping through this again one day. 

 Have you read the The Prince? Let me know in the comments!