feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/sparknotes/The Prince/section_9_part_2.txt
feat_book_id: The Prince.chapter xxv
feat_summary_id: chapter xxv
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter XXV", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210303115306/https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/prince/section10/", "summary": "Concerning the Influence of Fortune in Human Affairs, and the Manner in Which It Is to Be Resisted Although it is often thought that fortune controls human affairs, fortune controls only half of one's actions, while free will determines the other half. Fortune is like a flooding river: it is only dangerous when men have not built dykes against it beforehand. Italy has not built dykes, and as a result it has experienced tumultuous upheaval. Germany, Spain, and France have taken better care and have reaped the benefits of stability. As fortune varies, one man may succeed and another fail, even if they both follow the same path. Times and circumstances change, so a prince must adjust to them in order to remain successful; however, men tend to stay on the course that has brought them success in the past. Circumstances allowed Julius II to act impetuously, but if he had lived longer, he would have been ruined when circumstances changed. On the whole, however, impetuosity surpasses caution. Fortune favors energetic youth over cautious age", "analysis": ""}
text: 
  It is not unknown to me how many men have had, and still have, the
  opinion that the affairs of the world are in such wise governed by
  fortune and by God that men with their wisdom cannot direct them and
  that no one can even help them; and because of this they would have us
  believe that it is not necessary to labour much in affairs, but to let
  chance govern them. This opinion has been more credited in our times
  because of the great changes in affairs which have been seen, and
  may still be seen, every day, beyond all human conjecture. Sometimes
  pondering over this, I am in some degree inclined to their opinion.
  Nevertheless, not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that
  Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions,(*) but that she still
  leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.
  
       (*) Frederick the Great was accustomed to say: "The older
       one gets the more convinced one becomes that his Majesty
       King Chance does three-quarters of the business of this
       miserable universe." Sorel's "Eastern Question."
  
  I compare her to one of those raging rivers, which when in flood
  overflows the plains, sweeping away trees and buildings, bearing away
  the soil from place to place; everything flies before it, all yield to
  its violence, without being able in any way to withstand it; and yet,
  though its nature be such, it does not follow therefore that men, when
  the weather becomes fair, shall not make provision, both with defences
  and barriers, in such a manner that, rising again, the waters may
  pass away by canal, and their force be neither so unrestrained nor so
  dangerous. So it happens with fortune, who shows her power where valour
  has not prepared to resist her, and thither she turns her forces where
  she knows that barriers and defences have not been raised to constrain
  her.
  
  And if you will consider Italy, which is the seat of these changes, and
  which has given to them their impulse, you will see it to be an open
  country without barriers and without any defence. For if it had been
  defended by proper valour, as are Germany, Spain, and France, either
  this invasion would not have made the great changes it has made or it
  would not have come at all. And this I consider enough to say concerning
  resistance to fortune in general.
  
  But confining myself more to the particular, I say that a prince may be
  seen happy to-day and ruined to-morrow without having shown any change
  of disposition or character. This, I believe, arises firstly from causes
  that have already been discussed at length, namely, that the prince who
  relies entirely on fortune is lost when it changes. I believe also that
  he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of
  the times, and that he whose actions do not accord with the times will
  not be successful. Because men are seen, in affairs that lead to the end
  which every man has before him, namely, glory and riches, to get there
  by various methods; one with caution, another with haste; one by force,
  another by skill; one by patience, another by its opposite; and each one
  succeeds in reaching the goal by a different method. One can also see of
  two cautious men the one attain his end, the other fail; and similarly,
  two men by different observances are equally successful, the one being
  cautious, the other impetuous; all this arises from nothing else than
  whether or not they conform in their methods to the spirit of the times.
  This follows from what I have said, that two men working differently
  bring about the same effect, and of two working similarly, one attains
  his object and the other does not.
  
  Changes in estate also issue from this, for if, to one who governs
  himself with caution and patience, times and affairs converge in such a
  way that his administration is successful, his fortune is made; but if
  times and affairs change, he is ruined if he does not change his course
  of action. But a man is not often found sufficiently circumspect to know
  how to accommodate himself to the change, both because he cannot deviate
  from what nature inclines him to do, and also because, having always
  prospered by acting in one way, he cannot be persuaded that it is well
  to leave it; and, therefore, the cautious man, when it is time to turn
  adventurous, does not know how to do it, hence he is ruined; but had he
  changed his conduct with the times fortune would not have changed.
  
  Pope Julius the Second went to work impetuously in all his affairs, and
  found the times and circumstances conform so well to that line of action
  that he always met with success. Consider his first enterprise against
  Bologna, Messer Giovanni Bentivogli being still alive. The Venetians
  were not agreeable to it, nor was the King of Spain, and he had the
  enterprise still under discussion with the King of France; nevertheless
  he personally entered upon the expedition with his accustomed boldness
  and energy, a move which made Spain and the Venetians stand irresolute
  and passive, the latter from fear, the former from desire to recover
  the kingdom of Naples; on the other hand, he drew after him the King of
  France, because that king, having observed the movement, and desiring
  to make the Pope his friend so as to humble the Venetians, found it
  impossible to refuse him. Therefore Julius with his impetuous action
  accomplished what no other pontiff with simple human wisdom could have
  done; for if he had waited in Rome until he could get away, with his
  plans arranged and everything fixed, as any other pontiff would have
  done, he would never have succeeded. Because the King of France would
  have made a thousand excuses, and the others would have raised a
  thousand fears.
  
  I will leave his other actions alone, as they were all alike, and they
  all succeeded, for the shortness of his life did not let him experience
  the contrary; but if circumstances had arisen which required him to go
  cautiously, his ruin would have followed, because he would never have
  deviated from those ways to which nature inclined him.
  
  I conclude, therefore that, fortune being changeful and mankind
  steadfast in their ways, so long as the two are in agreement men are
  successful, but unsuccessful when they fall out. For my part I consider
  that it is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is
  a woman, and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and
  ill-use her; and it is seen that she allows herself to be mastered by
  the adventurous rather than by those who go to work more coldly. She is,
  therefore, always, woman-like, a lover of young men, because they are
  less cautious, more violent, and with more audacity command her.
  
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Chapter XXV
target: Concerning the Influence of Fortune in Human Affairs, and the Manner in Which It Is to Be Resisted Although it is often thought that fortune controls human affairs, fortune controls only half of one's actions, while free will determines the other half. Fortune is like a flooding river: it is only dangerous when men have not built dykes against it beforehand. Italy has not built dykes, and as a result it has experienced tumultuous upheaval. Germany, Spain, and France have taken better care and have reaped the benefits of stability. As fortune varies, one man may succeed and another fail, even if they both follow the same path. Times and circumstances change, so a prince must adjust to them in order to remain successful; however, men tend to stay on the course that has brought them success in the past. Circumstances allowed Julius II to act impetuously, but if he had lived longer, he would have been ruined when circumstances changed. On the whole, however, impetuosity surpasses caution. Fortune favors energetic youth over cautious age