Niccolò Machiavelli：The Prince, Excerpt 74

4. Without doubt princes become great when they overcome the difficulties and obstacles by which they are confronted, and therefore fortune, especially when she desires to make a new prince great, who has a greater necessity to earn renown than an hereditary one, causes enemies to arise and form designs against him, in order that he may have the opportunity of overcoming them, and by them to mount higher, as by a ladder which his enemies have raised. For this reason many consider that a wise prince, when he has the opportunity, ought with craft to foster some animosity against himself, so that, having crushed it, his renown may rise higher.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232
Locator：Excerpt 74 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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