Machiavelli

This article is about GritCult's view of Machiavelli. For a general overview, see Machiavelli on Wikipedia.

Machiavelli
““The wise man does immediately what the fool does eventually.” - Machiavelli” (2 February 2026)
In the archive
Portal	The Philosophers
Posts	19
Retweets	327
Likes	2,852
First post	14 March 2018
Latest post	2 February 2026
Posts by year
20187
20193
20206
20212
20261
Related
Aristotle C.S. Lewis Camus Carl Jung Cormac McCarthy

Machiavelli isn't the cartoon villain the comfortable paint him as. To GritCult he's the patron saint of pragmatism, the man who wrote what men actually do, not the fairy tale of what they ought to. A realist. A student of power who looked at history and told the truth about it.

Views

The lesson that sticks: "if you strike at a king, strike to kill." ^[1] Half measures get men killed. Boundaries are to be raised and defended, which is why Machiavelli concluded that fear commands more respect than love: a king who lets the jester fool him too far loses his subjects' respect ^[2]. He does not pretend the choice is free: the same post opens by conceding that a king who kills the jester is called a tyrant ^[2].

The wise man does immediately what the fool does eventually ^[3]. He shared it as a bare quote in 2026, and it is by far his most retweeted Machiavelli post: the point is to act now, not later when the fool ends up doing the same thing anyway. And to foresee the future, consult the past. Events resemble preceding times because they're produced by men animated by the same passions, and so they get the same results ^[4]. Human nature doesn't move, so history is either read or repeated.

GritCult calls himself a student of Machiavelli too ^[5]. He describes himself as a delusional level optimist who still makes room for pragmatism, which he calls more Machiavellian ^[6]. The job market is meritocratic, he argues, just not in the way people think: Machiavellianism, long-term thinking and people investment are highly rewarded ^[7]. And the man wrote his book for an audience of one, the prince, writing exactly what he wanted to read. Perfect aim ^[8].

Recurring themes

• strike to kill, no half measures
• fear vs love: boundaries defended, tyranny conceded
• act now: the wise man does immediately
• history as prophecy, fixed human nature
• pragmatism over comfortable idealism
• writing what men do, not what they ought

Notable post

The most retweeted GritCult post on the subject, with 306 retweets:

Selected posts

All 19 posts in the archive about Machiavelli, ranked by retweets. Select a column heading to sort.

Date	Retweets	Likes	Post	Media	Source
2 February 2026	306	2,631	“The wise man does immediately what the fool does eventually.” - Machiavelli		View
13 August 2018	6	18	As Machiavelli put it: if you strike at a king, strike to kill.		View
1 November 2018	4	12	A king that kills the jester is called a tyrant. But he cannot let the jester fool him so much lest his subjects lose their respect for him. Why Machiavelli concluded fear commanded more respect than love. Boundaries ought to be raised and defended.		View
23 June 2018	4	9	machiavelli "Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from fact theyre produced by men who ever have been, ever shall be. Animated by the same passions, thus they necessarily have the same results."		View
8 November 2020	3	37	amazon is the closest thing to being the east india company, once they get a license for armed patrol and private militia, its game over for the world. not even china would be able to stop the machiavellian mind of bezos		View
9 June 2020	2	28	Many criticise Machiavelli for writing a book for a prince to get into his good graces. Writing what he wanted to read. He had the perfect audience. An audience of one.		View
1 November 2020	1	27	"Never was anything great achieved without danger." - Niccolo Machiavelli		View
23 January 2020	1	6	I have a crazy Machiavellian ability to see the positive of every situation. The silver lining. I'm a perpetual optimist.		View
26 August 2020	0	37	It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles. ― Niccolò Machiavelli		View
5 November 2020	0	35	they call this "networking" the job market is meritocratic, but not in the way people think. machiavellianism is highly rewarded as is long term thinking and people investment. at uni i think i spent less than 10% of my time studying		View
6 January 2019	0	6	@0x49fa98 @simpolism 0HP : ["Read more Machiavelli, simps"]		View
14 March 2018	0	3	francis bacon : We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.		View
14 March 2018	0	2	i read Machiavelli the prince 7 years ago, i think i need to reread it as the images of it are still etched in my minds eye		View
25 March 2018	0	1	“ Few men are born brave. Many become so through training and the force of discipline.” - Niccolo Machiavelli		View
18 November 2018	0	0	@sophunicorngal @YvesXXI 😂 you literally just bragged about being able to break someone has a tendency to show dark triad traits - also brags about Machiavellianism and other dark triads bragging is also symptomatic of dark triad		View
9 January 2019	0	0	@suvyboy im a student of machiavelli too. this is what it is		View
20 October 2019	0	0	@Autarchitecture @Strigi_formes I’m still idealistic. I call myself a delusional level optimist. But I still make room for pragmatism. It’s more Machiavellian.		View
26 May 2021	0	0	I posted somewhere that Cummings is the modern day Machiavellian. Now he is playing out his machinations by throwing his previous master bojo Boris Johnson under the bus with the lockdown crisis.		View
20 July 2021	0	0	@MattChorley I said years ago. The modern day Machiavelli.		View

History

GritCult first posted about Machiavelli on 14 March 2018, and most recently on 2 February 2026. Across the archive the subject comes up 19 times, most often in 2018 (7 posts).

See also

The Philosophers portal

References

1. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (13 August 2018). if you strike at a king, strike to kill. X.
2. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (1 November 2018). A king that kills the jester is called a tyrant... Why Machiavelli concluded fear commanded more respect than love. Boundaries ought to be raised and defended. X.
3. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (2 February 2026). The wise man does immediately what the fool does eventually. X.
4. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (23 June 2018). Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; events ever resemble those of preceding times. X.
5. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (9 January 2019). im a student of machiavelli too. this is what it is. X.
6. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (20 October 2019). I call myself a delusional level optimist. But I still make room for pragmatism. It's more Machiavellian. X.
7. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (5 November 2020). machiavellianism is highly rewarded as is long term thinking and people investment. X.
8. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (9 June 2020). Writing what he wanted to read. He had the perfect audience. An audience of one. X.

External links

• Posts about Machiavelli by GRITCULT on X
• Machiavelli on Wikipedia