But, it being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of the matter than the imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and principalities which in fact have never been known or seen, because how one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil.
Sokan képzelnek el olyan köztársaságokat vagy egyeduralmakat, amelyek soha nem voltak, és amilyenekről nem is tudunk. Az ilyen ember oly messze van attól, ahogyan élünk, s ahogyan élnünk kellene, mint aki annak érdekében, amit csinálnia kell, eltérvén attól, amit csinál, inkább saját romlásának okozója, mintsem sikeres előmenetelének.