Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
Once a problem becomes evident, it has already passed beyond effective redress.
Ideally problems of government would be prevented by good planning and anticipation. Once the political problem becomes evident, it is usually too late to resolve it well at reasonable cost. Machiavelli warned against waiting. However, he never imagined that a political problem would become evident, and the government officials or legislators would not deal with it and delay attempted resolution. However “kicking the can down the road” became very common in the latter part of the 20th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, the extreme political polarization of Congress had caused so much gridlock that almost no problem could be legislated upon, even well after it had been recognized.
Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Florentine statesman and political philosopher, Quoted in Eric Nelson’s, The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
While true in many fields, it is particularly so in politics.
Nehru kept two icons on his desk. One was a gold statue of Gandhi and the other was a death cast of the hand of Abraham Lincoln.
Ironically, he had to drop out of the presidential nomination race because he was immersed in a personal scandal that erupted. He could not cope with it. Had he taken his own advice and dealt with it BEFORE the crises erupted, he might have weathered the storm. But he waited and was caught flat-footed.
See {630694} for a later, more specific instance where Hand’s principle was required operationally.
Canada's first female Prime Minister
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian Renaissance diplomat, philosopher and writer, best known for The Prince (Il Principe), written in 1513. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.
