Are You Meek Or Just Harmless?

Today’s Quote

“A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in every thing must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.” -From The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

If you ever want to make someone squirm, call them meek. I’m not sure if it’s due to a general lack of understanding around the word, or the fact that it rhymes with “weak”, but I would be willing to bet the reply would be some variation of “what do you mean by that?”.

And fair enough. The word meek’s usage has been on a steady decline since the 1800’s in our literature and outside of referencing rapper Meek Mill, there’s almost no google trend data on it. Despite appearing in the Bible 30+ times, most devout churchgoers would struggle to give a proper definition. So what does it mean to be meek?

Niccolo indirectly gives a pretty good framing for meekness in today’s quote. Being impotent does not denote virtue. The prince who “learns how not to be good” isn't indulging depravity, he's acknowledging that goodness only means something when you have a choice. This is meekness: strength under voluntary restraint.