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Passions Over Politics
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Maxims

The author contends that major political and historical events are more often the result of personal passions and petty jealousies than grand, calculated designs.

Great and striking actions which dazzle the eyes are represented by politicians as the effect of great designs, instead of which they are commonly caused by the temper and the passions. Thus the war between Augustus and Anthony, which is set down to the ambition they entertained of making themselves masters of the world, was probably but an effect of jealousy.
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Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Maxims

Chance's Great Actions

Directly supports the parent's claim by stating that great actions are more often the result of chance than of grand design, aligning with the idea that passions and temper, not calculated plans, drive history.

Although men flatter themselves with their great actions, they are not so often the result of a great design as of chance.

Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince

Self-Made Preeminence

Challenges the parent by arguing that the actions of great men are not attributable to fortune (or chance/passions) but to their own step-by-step efforts and genius, emphasizing deliberate design over impulsive passion.

...motion. And although he was twice routed by the Carthaginians, and ultimately besieged, yet not only was he able to defend his city, but leaving part of his men for its defence, with the others he attacked Africa, and in a short time raised the siege of Syracuse. The Carthaginians, reduced to extreme necessity, were compelled to come to terms with Agathocles, and, leaving Sicily to him, had to be content with the possession of Africa. [1] Agathocles the Sicilian, born 361 B.C., died 289 B.C.
Therefore, he who considers the actions and the genius of this man will see nothing, or little, which can be attributed to fortune, inasmuch as he attained pre-eminence, as is shown above, not by the favour of any one, but step by step in the military profession, which steps were gained with a thousand troubles and perils, and were afterwards boldly held by him with many hazardous dangers. Yet it cannot be called talent to slay fellow-citizens, to deceive friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; such methods may gain empire, but not glory.
Still, if the courage of Agathocles in entering into and extricating himself from dangers be considered, together with his greatness of mind in enduring and overcoming hardships, it cannot be seen why he should be esteemed less than the most notable captain. Nevertheless, his barbarous cruelty and inhumanity with infinite wickedness do not permit him to be celebrated among the most excellent men. What he achieved cannot be attributed either to fortune or genius. In our times, during the rule o...

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Maxims

Bravery's Hidden Motives

Elaborates on the specific passions—such as love of glory, fear of shame, and greed—that often underlie seemingly brave or great actions, providing a psychological mechanism for how passions drive human deeds.

Love of glory, fear of shame, greed of fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others are often causes of that bravery so vaunted among men.

Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince

Appearance Over Reality

Reframes the discussion from examining the causes of actions to judging by their outcomes, suggesting that in politics, results matter more than the motives (whether passions or designs) behind them.

...ul and pernicious.’” For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious. There is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, because it belongs to everybody to see you, to few to come in touch with you.
Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result. For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody; because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vu...
One prince[5] of the present time, whom it is not well to name, never preaches anything else but peace and good faith, and to both he is most hostile, and either, if he had kept it, would have deprived him of reputation and kingdom many a time. [5] Ferdinand of Aragon. “When Machiavelli was writing The Prince it would have been clearly impossible to mention Ferdinand’s name here without giving offence.” Burd’s “Il Principe,” p. 308. CHAPTER XIX. THAT ONE SHOULD AVOID BEING DESPISED A...

Blaise Pascal

Pensees

Love's Catastrophic Triviality

Questions our ability to pinpoint the causes of great events, noting that they often stem from a 'je ne sais quoi'—an unknowable trifle—thus casting doubt on any definitive attribution of historical events to specific passions or designs.

...and attract us. It is we ourselves who choose it voluntarily, and will it to prevail over us. So that we are masters of the situation; and in this man yields to himself. But in pleasure it is man who yields to pleasure. Now only mastery and sovereignty bring glory, and only slavery brings shame. 161 Vanity.--How wonderful it is that a thing so evident as the vanity of the world is so little known, that it is a strange and surprising thing to say that it is foolish to seek greatness! 162
He who will know fully the vanity of man has only to consider the causes and effects of love. The cause is a je ne sais quoi (Corneille), and the effects are dreadful. This je ne sais quoi, so small an object that we cannot recognise it, agitates a whole country, princes, armies, the entire world. Cleopatra's nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world would have been altered.
163 Vanity.--The cause and the effects of love: Cleopatra. 164 He who does not see the vanity of the world is himself very vain. Indeed who do not see it but youths who are absorbed in fame, diversion, and the thought of the future? But take away diversion, and you will see them dried up with weariness. They feel then their nothingness without knowing it; for it is indeed to be unhappy to be in insufferable sadness as soon as we are reduced to thinking of self, and have no diversion....

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

True Happiness Sources

Offers practical wisdom by advising that true happiness comes from focusing on one's own actions rather than being driven by the passion for external applause, providing an antidote to the ambitious temper the parent describes.

...r that it was with due exception, and reservation, that thou didst at first incline and desire. For thou didst not set thy mind upon things impossible. Upon what then? that all thy desires might ever be moderated with this due kind of reservation. And this thou hast, and mayst always obtain, whether the thing desired be in thy power or no. And what do I care for more, if that for which I was born and brought forth into the world (to rule all my desires with reason and discretion) may be? XLVI.
The ambitious supposeth another man's act, praise and applause, to be his own happiness; the voluptuous his own sense and feeling; but he that is wise, his own action.
XLVII. It is in thy power absolutely to exclude all manner of conceit and opinion, as concerning this matter; and by the same means, to exclude all grief and sorrow from thy soul. For as for the things and objects themselves, they of themselves have no such power, whereby to beget and force upon us any opinion at all. XLVIII. Use thyself when any man speaks unto thee, so to hearken unto him, as that in the interim thou give not way to any other thoughts; that so thou mayst (as far as is possi...