Online Literary Magazines Ask Other Authors
Q: Was this your idea, or did somebody ask you to do it?
A: The Marquess of Mantua, the Duke of Ferrara, the Bentivoglio, my lady of Forli, the Lords of Faenza, of Pesaro, of Rimini, of Camerino, of Piombino, the Lucchesi, the Pisans, the Sienese — everybody made advances.
A: They are bad.
Q: Do you think the world desperately needs poetry?
A: So much the more is this experiment dangerous.
Q: This is a personal question. Are you a fan of filmmaker David Cronenberg?
A: It cannot be called talent to slay fellow-citizens, to deceive friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion.
Q: Ah, the search for magic in the world. And where does one find it?
A: On the piazza at Cesena with the block and a bloody knife at his side.
Q: Do you feel as if people tag you too often as 'the guy who writes about sex?'
A: As this point is worthy of notice, and to be imitated by others, I am not willing to leave it out.
Q: If you had magical powers, how would you change the world of publishing and editing?
A: More vitality, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance.
Q: What animal would you be in a storybook?
A: The fox and the lion.
Q: When you and I leave this world, what remains?
A: The infelicity of these arms.
Q: What do you have on your desk?
A: Money, apparel, and horses.
Q: If you were on the beach right now, what would you be reading?
A: The life of Cyrus, written by Xenophon.
Q: Do you think it might have been a different book if you hadn't put your underwear on?
A: One always finds malcontents and such as desire a change.
**all answers excerpted from Machiavelli’s The Prince, published in 1532, five years after his death.
