Quote by Niccolò Machiavelli: “Fortune is a woman, and it is necessary to keep her under.”

Machiavelli uses fortune — luck, circumstance, the unpredictable forces of history — as a figure that must be actively dominated rather than patiently endured. Whether or not you agree with his metaphor, his core argument is this: passive waiting is a losing strategy in a world that doesn't reward it.

The Prince was written in 1513 after Machiavelli was removed from his position as Florentine secretary following the Medici restoration, and published posthumously in 1532. Italy at this time was being carved up by French, Spanish, and papal powers, and Machiavelli was asking how a ruler could survive in such brutal and unpredictable conditions.

Florentine diplomat, historian, and political philosopher whose treatise The Prince, written in 1513 and published in 1532, fundamentally changed how political power is analysed. He is often described as the founder of modern political science.