Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c116IR // #c116Synthesis

The wish to acquire is in truth very natural and common, and men always do so when they can, and for this they will be praised not blamed; but when they cannot do so, yet wish to do so by any means, then there is folly and blame.

— In our words · Source: The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli)

[Use when]

When someone moralizes ambition itself instead of how it is pursued.

[Why it matters]

Sets the book’s moral frame: expansion itself is natural and praiseworthy; only incompetent expansion is folly.

More from The Prince

#c117And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its…When a reform or reorg stalls and you need the mechanism, not the morale speech. #c118Those may be called properly used, if of evil it is possible to speak well, that are applied at one blow and are necessary to one’s…When debating whether to rip the bandage off. #c119But, it being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it appears to me more appropriate to follow up…When a plan is built on how people should behave.