evekisara

I don't really use livejournal, more so xanga. This is just my running "notes" for some of my philo/poli sci lectures - a nice place to type out some key passages I come across as I do my readings...

just if you're wondering why I have Aristotle and Machiavelli all over my page @_@;; hahaha

"My reply is one ought ot be both loved and feared; but, since it is difficult to accomplish both at the same time, I maintain it is much safer to be feared than loved, if you have to do without one of the two"
- Machiavelli, page 51.

on human nature - "For of men one can, in general, say this: THey are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive and deceiving, avoiders of danger, eager to gain."
- Machiavelli, page 52.

"You should hterefore know there are two ways to fight: one while respecting the rules, the other with no holds barred. Men alone fight in the first fashion, and animals fight in the second... A ruler, in particular, needs to know how to be both an animal and a man."
"... he should take as his models among the animals both the fox and the lion, for hte lion does not know how to avoid traps, and the fox is easily overpowered by wolves. So you must be a fox when it comes to suspecting a trap, and a lion when it comes to making the wolves turn tail."
- Machiavelli, page 54.

Virtu:
- Should be an admirer of skill
- Strength
- greatness
- people capable of anything (virtu grande)
- Ability/Skill


On rewarding citizens and festivities - pg 70.
- Good advisers should only think of the ruler's interests, whereas the ruler should think of the GOOD advisers' interests - giving him so much benefits that it is clear you both cannot do any better without one another.

"For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with arms, meant to be used by intelligence and excellence, which he may use for the worst ends. This is why, if he has not excellence, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states; for the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society."
- Aristotle, The Politics, 1253 - 35 (14)

I decided to just post bits and pieces out of my philosophy/politics readings here... just because I never use this place anyways. Might as well have something meaningful - because even if you might not agree...

There are things I read that just resonate in me.

"Men are not more zealous for truth than they often are for error, and a sufficient application of legal or even social penalties will generally succeed in stopping the propagation of either. The real advantage which truth has, consists in this, that when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found persons to rediscover it, until some one of its reappearances falls on a time when from favourable circumstances it escapes persecution until it has made such head as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress it"
- J.S. Mill, On Liberty, Chpt II, 950.

if anyone cares, i only use this to read the subscriptions and friends' entries. If anyone cares about my dull life, you can go to my xanga instead, hahaha:

http://xanga.com/evekisara

thanks =)

ummm, hello? T_T;
I don't know what to write here T_T.

Except that I have a huge english essay to write, and a huge crush on Hua Zi Lei despite advocating Dao Ming Si + Shancai, puahahahahahaha.

Yay. Hua Zi Lei <3333 T______T <3