"We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either"

Niccolò Machiavelli’s observation, “We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either,” invites a nuanced reflection on the nature of achievement and its origins. Machiavelli often contemplates the forces that underpin human success, particularly focusing on fortuna (chance or luck) and virtù (personal excellence, strength, or ability). Here, he asserts a strict boundary: accomplishments that arise independently of both luck and personal merit cannot sincerely be ascribed to either force.

This idea cautions against the common human tendency to rationalize results, positive or negative, by referencing external luck or internal capabilities. Sometimes achievements occur that bear little to no connection to the qualities or circumstances we typically valorize. Such outcomes may be random, mechanical, or derive from processes devoid of skill or chance. To wrongly assign virtue or fortune as their causes is to misunderstand the true chain of events.

Machiavelli encourages clear-sightedness in judgment, compelling us to discern what genuinely stems from an individual's character or from the unpredictability of fate. If a result neither flows from the deliberate actions of a capable person nor emerges from unpredictable external circumstances, it must be regarded as something different altogether, perhaps an inevitability, or a product of systemic momentum, or simply the outworking of causes not rooted in virtue or luck.

This perspective fosters intellectual honesty. Rather than overcrediting people or misattributing the role of fate, it merits recognizing when events are the outputs of ordinary mechanisms, not great deeds or fortunate breaks. Such acknowledgment tempers both premature admiration and unwarranted blame, encouraging analysis of deeper or perhaps prosaic origins. Machiavelli’s insight remains relevant within political, professional, and personal spheres, reminding us always to seek the true origins of achievements, resisting the allure of easy explanations, and to cultivate a more rigorous view of causality and merit.