Virtù vs Fortuna

Virtù vs Fortuna (origin + meaning)

The idea comes from Renaissance Italy, most clearly from The Prince (1513).

Fortuna meant luck, chance, chaos, and forces outside your control.
Wars. Weather. Politics. Betrayal. Timing.
The stuff that hits without asking.

Virtù did not mean moral goodness.
It meant strength, skill, nerve, decisiveness, and the ability to act effectively under pressure.
The capacity a person builds so they are not helpless when Fortuna strikes.

You can’t control Fortuna.
You can reduce her power by building Virtù.

“Fortune is like a raging river: when it floods, it sweeps everything before it.
But when the weather is fair, men can prepare defenses.”
-Machiavelli