The Municipal Machiavelli

Machiavelli's The Prince Rewritten for Municipal Politicians

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  • Home
  • Chapters 1-7
    • 1: Home Town Kingdoms
    • 2: Why Incumbents Rule Municipalities
    • 3: Newcomers Versus Incumbents
    • 4: Flexing Your Muscles
    • 5: Troublesome Incumbents & Staff
    • 6: New Ideas Make Enemies
    • 7: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
  • Chapters 8-14
    • 8: Does the End Justify the Means?
    • 9: Problems Newcomers Face
    • 10: Defending Your Position
    • 11: Agencies You Can’t Control
    • 12: Crafty Consultants
    • 13: Dangerous Lobbyists
    • 14: Learn the Rules of War
  • Chapters 15-21
    • 15: Looking Good, Acting Bad
    • 16: Parsimony Beats Generosity
    • 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
    • 18: The Subtle Art of Lying
    • 19: All You Need Isn’t Love
    • 20: Factions & Fortresses
    • 21: Saving Your Reputation
  • Chapters 22-26
    • 22: Loyal Staff & Wise Advisors
    • 23: Avoid Flatterers & Sycophants
    • 24: How Not to be Re-Elected
    • 25: Skill Beats Luck Every Time
    • 26: The Forest and the Trees
  • Addenda
    • Opening & Dedication
    • Introduction
    • Biography
    • About The Prince
    • Machiavelli’s Rules
    • Machiavellian Misquotes
    • Why Machiavelli Matters
    • Translating Machiavelli
    • Bibliography
  • Misc.
    • Demonizing Machiavelli
    • The Art of War
    • The Ten Faults
    • Quotes from Machiavelli
    • Other Quotes
    • Letter to Francesco Vettori

Chapters 15-21

Click on the chapter name to go to that page:

  • Chapter 15: Looking Good, Acting Bad
  • Chapter 16: Parsimony Beats Generosity
  • Chapter 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
  • Chapter 18: The Subtle Art of Lying
  • Chapter 19: All You Need Isn’t Love
  • Chapter 20: Factions & Fortresses
  • Chapter 21: Saving Your Reputation

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The Prince by Chapter:

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI

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Chapters

  • Opening Quotes & Dedication
  • Introduction
  • 1: Home Town Kingdoms
  • 2: Why Incumbents Rule Municipalities
  • 3: Newcomers Versus Incumbents
  • 4: Flexing Your Muscles
  • 5: Troublesome Incumbents & Staff
  • 6: New Ideas Make Enemies
  • 7: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
  • 8: Does the End Justify the Means?
  • 9: Problems Newcomers Face
  • 10: Defending Your Position
  • 11: Agencies You Can’t Control
  • 12: Crafty Consultants
  • 13: Dangerous Lobbyists
  • 14: Learn the Rules of War
  • 15: Looking Good, Acting Bad
  • 16: Parsimony Beats Generosity
  • 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
  • 18: The Subtle Art of Lying
  • 19: All You Need Isn’t Love
  • 20: Factions & Fortresses
  • 21: Saving Your Reputation
  • 22: Loyal Staff & Wise Advisors
  • 23: Avoid Flatterers & Sycophants
  • 24: How Not to be Re-Elected
  • 25: Skill Beats Luck Every Time
  • 26: The Forest and the Trees

Addenda

  • A Brief Biography
  • About The Prince
  • Demonizing Machiavelli
  • Why Machiavelli Matters
  • Machiavelli’s Rules
  • Machiavellian Misquotes
  • Translating Machiavelli
  • Machiavelli’s The Art of War
  • The Ten Faults
  • Quotes from Machiavelli
  • Other Quotes
  • Letter to Francesco Vettori
  • Bibliography & Sources

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Recent Posts

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Excerpts:

Machiavellian Misquotes

Machiavelli today is commonly known by two things. One is the statement that, ‘the end justifies the means.’ The other is by the adjective ‘Machiavellian,’ meaning something evil, underhanded, treacherous, cunning or sneaky in politics. Neither is accurate.

Many people recognize that he wrote The Prince (Il Principe), but few modern municipal politicians can lay claim [...]

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Machiavelli’s The Art of War

Machiavelli wrote these maxims of military strategy in Book VII of his work, The Art of War. Many of these are relevant to the lessons he gave in The Prince. For Machiavelli, the strategies of war were an inextricably integral part of politics. It wasn’t just about the clash of armies, but rather the clash [...]

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Enhancing my interpretation of Machiavelli

Since I first wrote my book reinterpreting Machiavelli’s The Prince for municipal politicians, I have been reading the works of other writers, and adding quotations from them to my chapters to further buttress my interpretation of Machiavelli’s words. These recently have included William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon, among others.

I recently turned to reading Balthasar Gracian [...]

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Chapter 16: Parsimony Beats Generosity

Picking up the theme from his last chapter, in Chapter XVI: Concerning Liberality and Meanness, Machiavelli makes the point that being generous for its own sake actually harms your reputation, and will cost you all your belongings and political capital. Liberality in his chapter title also translates as “generous.”

If you’re going to be benevolent, even [...]

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Chapter 6: New Ideas Make Enemies

Chapter VI: Concerning New Principalities Which are Acquired by One’s Own Arms and Ability, opens with a comment that for most people of modest ability, it’s tough to achieve the success of glorious predecessors by merely imitating their acts. The average person is, Machiavelli writes,

“…unable to keep entirely to the ways of others or attain [...]

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Random quote…

“I believe that this follows from whether cruelty is being badly or well used. Those may be called properly used… that are applied at one blow out of necessity to secure one’s power, and that are not persisted in afterwards, unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects.” — Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch. VIII

Recent Comments

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Top Posts & Pages

  • Chapter 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
  • Chapter 18: The Subtle Art of Lying
  • Chapter 8: Does the End Justify the Means?
  • Machiavellian Misquotes
  • Other Quotes
  • Chapter 6: New Ideas Make Enemies
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