History Literature / ThePrince

* BadassBookworm[=/=]GeniusBruiser: The prince should spend most, if not all, of his free time toward two things: physical activities - of which hunting is the one Machiavelli recommends the most - and reading - and on especially works about military strategies and biographies of great men and leaders. By this way, the prince will improve himself both in body and mind, and become both a lion and a fox in one and the same being.

Compare ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'', whose traditional author actually ''was'' that big a prick. See also ''Literature/DiscoursesOnLivy'', Machiavelli's other book, and HobbesWasRight. Also compare Kautilya's Arthashastra, which is a much more humane but ancient by many hundreds of years to the Prince.

* BadassBookworm[=/=]GeniusBruiser: The prince should spend most, if not all, of his free time toward two things: physical activities - of which hunting is the one Machiavelli recommends the most - and reading - and especially works about military strategies and biographies of great men and leaders. By this way, the prince will improve himself both in body and mind, and become both a lion and a fox in one and the same being.

* BadassBookworm: The prince should be this, or a GeniusBruiser. "The prince needs to be both a [[CunningLikeAFox fox]] to avoid the snares and a [[KingOfBeasts lion]] to scare away the wolves".

* PragmaticHero: What being a prince ultimately should be. Though Machiavelli suggests ruthless things, all of it is to the end of protecting one's people and ensuring their prosperity instead of being a self-centered tyrant.

* SelfMadeMan: If you plan to take power through your own guts, skills and will alone, and with minimal to no help from stronger factions, than you might have to fight longer and harder to claim it, but if you do succeed with it, than you'll have it much easier to rule, since your hard-earned efforts will inspire true and sincere loyalty and respect from your followers and subjects. If you'd that power handed to you on a silver plate, you'll find it easier to gain but harder to keep, since that easier way won't inspire any true loyalty or respect from your subjects, and there's a chance that those who gave it to you will take it back if they think you don't do well enough in their taste. This problem might be avoided if you're born from a long etablished dynasty, but that the end of the day, people respects the fighter or the scrapper the most.

* SelfMadeMan: If you plan to take power through your own guts, skills and will alone, and with minimal to no help from stronger factions, than you might have to fight longer and harder to claim it, but if you do succeed with it, than you'll have it much easier to rule, since your hard-earned efforts will inspire true and sincere loyalty and respect from your followers and subjects. If you'd that power handed to you on a silver plate, you'll find it easier to gain but harder to keep, since that easier way won't inspire any true loyalty or respect from your subjects, and there's a chance that those who gave it to you will take it back if they think you don't do well enough in their taste. This problem might be avoided if you're born from a long etablished dynasty, but that the end of the day, people respects that fighter or the scrapper the most.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Subverted. If some dude or dudes decides that they should betray their king and country for you then you should reward them with exactly what they want; whatever it's money, power, influence, etc.

* SelfMadeMan: If you plan to take power through your own guts, skills and will alone, and with minimal to no help from stronger factions, than you might have to fight longer and harder to claim it, but if you do succeed with it, than you'll have it much easier to rule, since your hard-earned efforts will inspire true and sincere loyalty and respect from your followers and subjects. If you'd that power handed to you on a silver plate, you'll find it easier to gain but harder to keep, since that easier way won't inspire any true loyalty or respect from your subjects, and there's a chance that those who gave it to you will take it back if they think you don't do well enough in their taste. This problem might be avoided if you're born from a long etablished dynasty, but that the end of the day, people respects that fighter or scrapper the most.

* SelfMadeMan: If you plan to take power through your own guts, skills and will alone, and with minimal to no help from stronger factions, you might have to fight longer and harder to claime it, but if you do succeed with it, you'll have it much easier to rule, since your hard-earned efforts will inspire true and sincere loyalty and respect from your followers and subjects. If you'd that power handed to you on a silver plate, you'll find it easier to gain but harder to keep, since that easier way won't inspire any true loyalty or respect from your subjects, and there's a chance that those who gave it to you will take it back if they think you don't do well enough in their taste.

* CrazyPrepared: Machiavelli advises the reader that during times of peace and prosperity, he dosen't become complacent and that uses that time to prepare himself and his principality for events of war or catastrophes so that they won't be caught off-guard when they inevitable happens.

* CrazyPrepared: Machiavelli advises the reader to prepare himself and anything else for war, and never to forget it, because you never know if TheEmpire, LaResistance or TheStarscream is gonna pick a fight with you.

* JoinOrDie: An efficent tool to tame and control those of your enemies who are of a lesser threat to you; the more threatening ones you should only use the ''Die'' option.

* ThePurge: If you must do this then you should only do this during your first years as a ruler, and only on your political enemies. If you do this on the civilians, or continue with purges every single year then you'll lose popularity points.
** Bear in mind--this means ''actual'' political enemies. Purging ''potential'' political enemies is extremely risky, especially if the potential that they'll challenge you is something that only you see. If you go after people who've declared their loyalty to you and have never actually done anything to wrong you, you may lose all-important supporters on account of your capriciousness.
*** It's important to note that Renaissance thinkers like Machiavelli were very big fans of the [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece Greeks]] and it's likely that he had heard the story of the Thirty Tyrants: a coterie of young aristocrats (some of them students of Creator/{{Socrates}}) who (with the support of 700 Spartan hoplites) took control of Athens after UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar. They proceded to execute all the leaders of the democratic tendency in Athens...and then all the ''potential'' leaders...and then all the ''suspected'' potential leaders. Naturally, [[GenocideBackfire the Athenians revolted]] and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy reinstated the democracy shortly thereafter]]. No doubt Machiavelli took note.

* ArmiesAreEvil: Once you wise up, stop using mercenaries or other nations' armies and create your own army. It's very important that you don't make your soldiers or officers too greedy or too ambitious, and that you don't get too soft on the discipline part. On the other hand, a balance between courage, rewards for their loyalty and AFatherToHisMen attitude, and hard discipline and harsh punishments if they don't listen to you, will make them a BadassArmy.
* AristocratsAreEvil: You shouldn't put too much trust in the social elite. There's a chance if they don't like your governing, they either rebel against you, try to overthrow you, try to assassinate you, or ally themselves with your enemies. And allowing them to commit corruption sure is gonna awake the people's wrath, and that is something a wise prince must not allow to happen. If they would commit treason against you then you must depose them immediately. That shouldn't be too difficult if you have the people's support and the army's loyalty, and if you don't have it then executing the traitors will help your popularity rise amongst the average people. If the prince is able to TakeAThirdOption and create a social and economic society that both the aristocrats and the people are satisfied with, he may not need to use violence (at least internally) to rule the country.

* FollowTheLeader: [[invoked]] Machiavelli advises the reader to read the histories of great leaders, such as Cyrus the Great or Hiero II of Syracuse, and learn the ways they used to get and kept power, as well learn the mistakes they might have made so that the reader won't makes them as well.