Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from The Art of War by Niccolo Machiavelli
“good he shall never bee judged, whom maketh an excersise thereof, where purposing alwaies to gaine thereby, it is requisite for hym to be ravenyng, deceiptfull, violente, and to have many qualities, the whiche of necessitie maketh hym not good”
The Art of War, Book I, trans. Peter Whitehorne (1560)
The core argument against professional soldiering: making war a private trade corrupts character.
Citation: "good he shall never bee judged, whom maketh an excersise thereof, where purposing alwaies to gaine thereby, it is requisite for hym to be ravenyng, deceiptfull, violente, and to have many qualities, the whiche of necessitie maketh hym not good" — Niccolo Machiavelli, The Art of War, Book I, trans. Peter Whitehorne (1560). (id the-art-of-war-machiavelli-q4)
Portrait: Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli, Santi di Tito, Public domain.
