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.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the difference between public perception and true character, suggesting that most people are aware of only appearances.
Machiavelli's quote emphasizes the contrast between how individuals are viewed by society and their true nature. It reflects on the idea that while many may judge someone based on superficial appearances, only a select few can see beyond that façade. Furthermore, those who do understand the truth often remain silent, due to the potential repercussions of contradicting the majority opinion that is supported by the power of the state.
In practice
In a discussion about social media's influence on public perception, one might quote Machiavelli on appearances.
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 vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on.
Many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his preservation.
Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.
And here one must not that hatred is acquired just as much by means of good actions as by bad ones; and so, as I said above, if a prince wishes to maintain the state, he is often obliged not to be good; because whenever that group which you believe you need to support you is corrupted, whether it be the common people, the soldiers, or the nobles, it is to your advantage to follow their inclinations in order to satisfy them; and then good actions are your enemy.
The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.
In war, discipline can do more than fury.
So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.
And in truth (as I now see) I had the wish to put off my journey as long as I could. Not for any peril or labour it might cost; but because I could see nothing in the whole world for me to do once it was accomplished. AS long as this act lay before me, there was, as it were, some barrier between me and the dead desert which the rest of my life must be.
The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops - no, but the kind of man the country turns out.
There is something precious in our being mysteries to ourselves, in our being unable ever to see through even the person who is closest to our heart and to reckon with him as though he were a logical proposition or a problem in accounting.
There is not a separate God for each person. There is one universal intelligence flowing through all of us.
First, he realized that the sea was blue and that there was an enormous quantity of it, and that it roared and roared-really all the banalities about the ocean that one could realize, but if any one had told him then that these things were banalities, he would have gaped in wonder.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.