Status Updates From The Prince

I really liked these 150 pages because they felt less ruthless and more rational.

While reading this book, I realized that Machiavelli wasn't as ruthless as people often claimed. For instance, Pope Clement VII once remarked that although Machiavelli possessed remarkable writing and intellectual abilities, he was not suited for practical political work—he was cautious, to some extent, fearful.

Use others to do the dirty work—but remove them publicly to win people’s trust. - Machiavellian

Not my usual reading but controversial works need to be read, if not even more so.

That being said, it is DENSE.

“From this we can to deduce a general rule, which never or rarely fails to apply: that whoever is responsible for another becoming powerful ruins himself, because this power is brought into being either by ingenuity or by force, and both of these are suspect to the one who has become powerful.”