machiavelli chocolatewalrus everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are. friendship which is bought with money and not with greatness and nobility of mind is paid for, but it does not last and it yeilds nothing. [from the Prince, a book of political theory, but at least i get some intellectual satisfaction out of it] 050507 ... walrie a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves towards self destruction rather than self preservation a man who wants to act virtuously in every way comes to grief among many who are unvirtuous 050510 ... andru235 machiavelli = evil, am a lich i have ill mac i calm: ah, vile 050510 ... andru235 chocolate walrus, this is not a dis. the first line you quoted "everyone sees ... really are" is a gem, and so (painfully) true 050510 ... latewalrus no worries, andru many believed machiavelli was evil it wasn't until years later that anyone considered perhaps the prince was a bitter satire trying to get the common people to realize the evilness of politics and government so they may do something about it however, machiavelli without a doubt held the belief that common people were not very smart so the preceding theory is unlikely the best bet is that machiavelli wanted to return to his home town and retain a government position, his idea being that the prince would put him in good light with the existing government and that they would want involved in their system. despite the good merits of this plan, he ended up being considered heartless and unvirtuous and therefore was unable to obtain a government position or even return to florentine at all. 050511 ... andru235 see, this is what i love about blather. i thought machiavelli was genoese. but, genoese he is not! if it hadn't been for blather, two months down the road, i'd have said amidst conversation something about machiavelli returning to genoa, and in doing so, someone would have written off everything i said. instead, now they will write off everything i say, without any reason. also, it never dawned on me that perhaps machiavelli was trying to illuminate the commoners: i always assumed (thus, the idiocy of assumption) that he was pandering to renaissance italy's wealthy elite! 050511 ... dafremen "Revolution imminent? Hire as many talented peasants as you can, to rob the revolution of its ambition and its brains.Then hire blindly loyal peasants to die in your defense. Exterminate the rest. Revolution averted. Problem solved. " -Niccolo Machiavelli 2020 edition 210510 what's it to you? who go blather from