Niccolò Machiavelli：The Prince, Excerpt 23

States that rise unexpectedly, then, like all other things in nature which are born and grow rapidly, cannot leave their foundations and correspondencies[1] fixed in such a way that the first storm will not overthrow them; unless, as is said, those who unexpectedly become princes are men of so much ability that they know they have to be prepared at once to hold that which fortune has thrown into their laps, and that those foundations, which others have laid _before_ they became princes, they must lay _afterwards_.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232
Locator：Excerpt 23 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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