I marked a number of pages in The Prince as points I was going to discuss in this posting.

Unfortunately, I re-read the pages and nothing noteworthy came to mind. I blame the abundant sunshine raining down on my head at the time for the false dog-ears.

BUT there is one nugget that really saves the entire experience: “For fortune is a woman and in order to be mastered she must be jogged and beaten.” Machiavelli was certainly ahead of his time in male-female relations. “Therefore, like a woman, she always favors young men because they are so much inclined to caution as to aggressiveness and daring in mastering her.” Maybe he was just a bitter old man.

Next up: “The Survival Game” by David Barash.