Virtù and Fortuna

Concept Search related

The two highest-order terms in Machiavelli's vocabulary. Fortuna is the half of outcomes you can't prepare for — what we call "luck", except Machiavelli treats it as a force, not a vagrant god. Virtù is the operator's counterforce — the practiced skill that bends fortuna before it bends you. The two together explain every outcome in the book.

"he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times, and he whose actions do not accord with the times will not be successful."

How it's structured

  1. Verbatim core > "Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less." — ch. XXV…
  2. Verbatim core > "I compare her to one of those raging rivers, which when in flood overflows the plains, sweeping away trees and buildings ... yet, though…
  3. Verbatim core > "A prince may be seen happy to-day and ruined to-morrow without having shown any change of disposition or character. This, I believe, aris…
  4. The "spirit of the times" principle "he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times, and he whose actions do not accord with the times will…

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