In what ways does "The Prince" by Machiavelli defend the commonly known phrase "The end justifies the means"?
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The entire philosophy of The Prince is predicated on the assumption that the end justifies the means.  The Prince presents a very pragmatic view of the world, and the way it operates.  This is a book tht doesn't expouse noble ideals; it looks at cold, hard reality and deals with the world the way it is, not the way they wish it could be.\n\nThe Prince is a view of life that is the polar opposite of an idealistic, theoretical society where both sides can win.  Brutal, down-to-earth, pragmatic, cold-hearted logic rules the day in The Prince.  Either your country is powerful and wealthy, or another country will usurp your power and wealth.  There is no concept of a mutally beneficial system.  It is a zero sum game.  Either you win, or I win.  If I let you become powerful, I become weaker.\n\n\nHere are some quotes:\n\nKeep your weak and powerless friends secure and protected. They will then come to you for help. \n\nYou should not weaken yourself, especially by helping other to become more powerful. \n\nOnce you take over such a country and you kill the prince and his family, is is easy to rule: there is no one with power to fear.
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"Truth and fairness" is the best translation, I think. \nIf the author had meant "justice" he would have used "iustitia".
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I think that quote came from a philosopher or a writer during the times wherein swords and spears are the only weapons and guns are not yet invented. These kind of men fought their government by writing novels,essays poems,etc. denouncing the dictatorship of their leaders. Instead of a bloody revolt,w/c means taking up arms (swords),they choose to convey their grievances w/c in turn influenced the public. Because of what they learned from the writings.the public revolt causing many governments to topple down.
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From Shakespeare's "Henry VI":\n\n---------------\nDICK.\nThe first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. \n\nJACK CADE.\nNay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings: but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since.- How now! who's there?\n---------------\n\nDespite what the ignorant believe, Shakespeare is not anti-lawyer, he's anti-anarchy.  Dick and Jack are revolutionaries intent on overthrowing the monarchy.
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That's Wordsworth - the end of "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood."\n\nHe is saying his mind--which stems from a consciousness of mortality, as opposed to the child's feeling of immortality--enables him to love nature and natural beauty all the more, for each of nature's objects can stir him to thought, and even the simplest flower blowing in the wind can raise in him "thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
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"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." \n- H. G. Wells (1866-1946)\n\n"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." \n- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) \n\n"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake." \n- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956) \n\n"Don't be so humble - you are not that great." \n- Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat \n\n"His ignorance is encyclopedic" \n- Abba Eban (1915-2002) \n\n"If a man does his best, what else is there?" \n- General George S. Patton (1885-1945) \n\n"I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better." \n- A. J. Liebling (1904-1963) \n\n"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." \n- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) \n\n"Give me chastity and continence, but not yet." \n- Saint Augustine (354-430) \n\n"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." \n- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) \n\n"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." \n- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) \n\n"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." \n- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) \n\n"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." \n- Galileo Galilei \n\n"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." \n- Emile Zola (1840-1902) \n\n"This book fills a much-needed gap." \n- Moses Hadas (1900-1966) in a review \n\n"The full use of your powers along lines of excellence." \n- definition of "happiness" by John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) \n\n"I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart." \n- e e cummings (1894-1962) \n\n"Give me a museum and I'll fill it." \n- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) \n\n"Assassins!" \n- Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) to his orchestra \n\n"I'll moider da bum." \n- Heavyweight boxer Tony Galento, when asked what he thought of William Shakespeare \n\n"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." \n- Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut \n\n"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." \n- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) \n\n"Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems." \n- Rene Descartes (1596-1650), "Discours de la Methode" \n\n"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." \n- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) \n\n"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right." \n- Henry Ford (1863-1947) \n\n"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'." \n- Yoda ('The Empire Strikes Back') \n\n"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." \n- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) \n\n"Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed." \n- George Burns (1896-1996)\n\n\n"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves." \n- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)\n\n\n"The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense." \n- Edsgar Dijkstra\n\n\n"C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg." \n- Bjarne Stroustrup\n\n\n"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems." \n- Paul Erdos (1913-1996)\n\n\n"Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting b
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Voltaire - "I do not agree to a word you say but I will defend to my death your right to say it"
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It's called diplomacy and negotiation. Respect for others. International relations cannot be based on the concept of might makes right, or acting the bully.\n\nInternally, it means not using illegal means to achieve your ends. When the President signs bills (and it did not begin with GWB), he writes in reservations. The Constitution gives him only 2 options sign or veto. If he signs it with reservations and then expects to enforce those reservations, he is usurping Congress' purview. If it were not for the recent problem with Rep. Jefferson, Congress was readily ceding its power to the President. With A complaisant Supreme Court, we have the Imperial Presidency: if the President does it, it is not wrong.\n\nAnd half of the voting people are ready to give up freedom in the name of being rich, or secure, and thus deserve neither.
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read "The Prince" by Nicolo Machiavellli
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It gets its name from Doctor Pangloss in Voltaire's Candide.  His belief was that all things happen for the best and that we live in the best of possible worlds.  Voltaire himself plainly doesn't believe this and events in the book contrive to prove otherwise.
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"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."...The Mysterious Stranger\n\n-Mark Twain
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"Life's not fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all."\n-William Goldman, author of "The Princess Bride"
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The premise of the quote is rooted in the belief that first of all there is a 'truth' to be known.  And knowing that truth and being unhappy because of that truth is better then living under false pre-tense and feeling happy.  ie. having a girlfriend who you know is cheating on you and staying with her. Is better than being happy and not knowing that your girlfriend is cheating on you.\n\nI think the quote takes the possibly to the extreme.  The person who created this quote doesn't necessarily believe that the 'truth' means that someone will be unhappy.  Rather that the 'truth' is the most important thing.
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The Prince.  See link for the total context.
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Thomas Jefferson said:\n\nTimid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty\n\nI would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it\n\nThose who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one
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The phrase originally meant to kill all opponents in a battle.\n\nHowever, the phrase is also used commonly to mean to do whatever you can to win. For instance, when you take no prisoners in the business world, you will lie, cheat and steal to get ahead of the competition.
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The phrase "Honi soit qui mal y pense"  is the motto of the Order of the Garter.  It is written in old french which is much closer to Latin, which is one reason it's hard to translate. A popular translation is 'shamed be the person who thinks evil of it'.  Literally, "One is (evil) who thinks evil of it"   Evil is as evil thinks.  \n\nThe Most Noble Order of the Garter was founded in 1348 by King Edward III as a noble fraternity consisting of the King, the Prince of Wales (or heir-apparent to the throne) and 24 Knights Companion. It is to this day the highest of the English orders, with a membership of under 30 people.