Men have imagined republics and principalities that never really existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what 'is' for what 'should be' pursues his downfall rather than his preservation; for a man who strives after goodness in all his acts is sure to come to ruin, since there are so many men who are not good. For this plainspoken pragmatism, Cardinal Pole denounced Niccolò Machiavelli as the devil's apostle.
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
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The text discusses the contrast between idealized government systems that people envision and the reality of human behavior. It suggests that humanity often deviates significantly from how it should ideally operate. Those who forsake the current state of affairs for unattainable ideals may ultimately face failure. This perspective emphasizes the challenges of striving for goodness in a world filled with individuals who act contrary to such ideals.

Cardinal Pole's denunciation of Machiavelli as the "devil's apostle" highlights the tension between philosophical ideals and practical governance. It underscores a belief that the pursuit of virtue often leads to downfall in an imperfect world, where many lack the same moral aspirations. This reflects a broader commentary on human nature and the complexities inherent in political thought.

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The Bone Clocks
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David Mitchell
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Other quotes in The Bone Clocks

If poor doomed Olly's a Radio 4 play, what am I? You, Hugo, she kisses my earlobe, are a sordid, low-budget French film. The sort you'd stumble across on TV at night. You know you'll regret it in the morning, but you keep watching anyway.
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
If poor doomed Olly's a Radio 4 play, what am I? You, Hugo, she kisses my earlobe, are a sordid, low-budget French film. The sort you'd stumble across on TV at night. You know you'll regret it in the morning, but you keep watching anyway.
.....it's hard to describe a psychosoteric battle at close quarters..... Think of those tennis-ball firing machines, but loaded with hand-grenades trapped in a shipping container, on a ship caught in a force-ten gale.
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
.....it's hard to describe a psychosoteric battle at close quarters..... Think of those tennis-ball firing machines, but loaded with hand-grenades trapped in a shipping container, on a ship caught in a force-ten gale.
And if you'd swap your metalife for a bone clock's snatched, wasted, tawdry handful of decades!
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
And if you'd swap your metalife for a bone clock's snatched, wasted, tawdry handful of decades!
What else has changes since 1984? Oil's running our, I say Earth's population is eight billion, mass extinction of flora and fauna are commonplace, climate change is foreclosing the Holocene Era. Aparteid's dead, as are the Castros in Cuba as is privacy. The USSR went bankrupt; the Eastern bloc collapsed; Germany reunified; the EU has gone federal; China's a powerhouse- though their air is industrial effluence in a gaseous state - and North Korea is still a gulag run by a coiffed cannibal. p 500
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
What else has changes since 1984? Oil's running our, I say Earth's population is eight billion, mass extinction of flora and fauna are commonplace, climate change is foreclosing the Holocene Era. Aparteid's dead, as are the Castros in Cuba as is privacy. The USSR went bankrupt; the Eastern bloc collapsed; Germany reunified; the EU has gone federal; China's a powerhouse- though their air is industrial effluence in a gaseous state - and North Korea is still a gulag run by a coiffed cannibal. p 500
So Unlucky Worm Olly is a radio play on Radio 4. And what am I? - You, Hugo, she kisses me on the earlobe, is a dirty low-budget French film that you happen to come across on TV at night. You know you'll regret it in the morning, but you watch it anyway. Down in the yard someone is whistling a forgotten song.
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
So Unlucky Worm Olly is a radio play on Radio 4. And what am I? - You, Hugo, she kisses me on the earlobe, is a dirty low-budget French film that you happen to come across on TV at night. You know you'll regret it in the morning, but you watch it anyway. Down in the yard someone is whistling a forgotten song.
So Unlucky Worm Olly is a radio play on Radio 4. And what am I? - You, Hugo, she kissed me on the earlobe, is a dirty low-budget French film, one that you happen to come across on TV at night. You know you'll regret it in the morning, but you watch it anyway. Down in the yard someone is whistling a forgotten song.
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks
So Unlucky Worm Olly is a radio play on Radio 4. And what am I? - You, Hugo, she kissed me on the earlobe, is a dirty low-budget French film, one that you happen to come across on TV at night. You know you'll regret it in the morning, but you watch it anyway. Down in the yard someone is whistling a forgotten song.
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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Sociologists have a theory of the looking - glass self. You become what the most important person in your life {wife, father, boss, etc.} thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?
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Sociologists have a theory of the looking - glass self. You become what the most important person in your life {wife, father, boss, etc.} thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?
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