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The Prince Quote Analysis

Decent Essays

In Machiavelli's “The Prince“ he wrote hundreds of great quotes. He also explains how great leaders rule their territory. His quote “Rivers and men can be controlled, but not trusted,” is just one of many examples out there stating this. This quote is very perceptive because it explains how he interprets mankind and what common folk do and what similarities they share rivers. In this particular quote he states that men and rivers can be controlled by various means but they can never be trusted.
Machiavelli meant in his quote “... men can be controlled, but not trusted.” that men can be forced to do your will. Also you can put fear in them and make them do your bidding and fight your fights. But they can’t be trusted with secrets because they could end up telling the secrets to your enemy because that is what men do. Men are not reliable because of the influence of alcohol and also torture and make them spill secrets. Also if you are a hated ruler, then people will willingly give up your secrets instead of protecting them and some people just can’t keep a secret. Men …show more content…

A river is the same way you can force it to irrigate your crops by creating irrigation canals. Also, they can be used for fishing and ships can trade goods over the water also. When Machiavelli wrote that rivers and men can’t be trusted I also agree with this too, because a man naturally will have a harder time keeping a secret because there is that thrill that only certain people know and they want to be the one to gossip about it. In a different way rivers can’t be trusted because rivers flood unpredictably (unless that river is the Nile) and when it floods it spreads havoc throughout the

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