"The prince must acquir eand keep his principality; and the means by which he does this will always be praised & judged honorable by all, because the common people will be convinced by appearances and by the end result." - Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli wrote this in The Prince, which served as his appeal to the Florentine rulers of the de'Medici family, in power during his prisonment. As the title The Prince implies, Machiavelli was in favor of a monarchy, and herein delineates the pragmatic stratagems a ruler must undertake in order to keep for himself the throne, which include: political opportunism; cunning; deviousness; boldness; and at least exuding a patina of compassion, good faith, integrity, kindness, and religion. No wonder, then, that the term "Macchiavellian" is used today to characterize a political figure who manipulates. The quote above reigns among the other cynical views of human nature which color The Prince, and this one particularly is Machiavelli's justification of the maxim: the ends justify the means. This isn't to say that his arguments weren't strong; he made countless mention of ancient rulers (e.g. Antiochus, Hiero of Syracuse, etc.) for more QED effect; moreover, he exhibits most interestingly the tacit assumptions as well as the freshly-formed ideas and attitudes of his time and circumstances, and emanates a sense of glory that always accompanies large-scale political changes like the Medici assumption of power in Florence. All things considered, this essay is arguably hallowed Scripture for a great many of our world's leaders hitherto.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli wrote this in The Prince, which served as his appeal to the Florentine rulers of the de'Medici family, in power during his prisonment. As the title The Prince implies, Machiavelli was in favor of a monarchy, and herein delineates the pragmatic stratagems a ruler must undertake in order to keep for himself the throne, which include: political opportunism; cunning; deviousness; boldness; and at least exuding a patina of compassion, good faith, integrity, kindness, and religion. No wonder, then, that the term "Macchiavellian" is used today to characterize a political figure who manipulates. The quote above reigns among the other cynical views of human nature which color The Prince, and this one particularly is Machiavelli's justification of the maxim: the ends justify the means. This isn't to say that his arguments weren't strong; he made countless mention of ancient rulers (e.g. Antiochus, Hiero of Syracuse, etc.) for more QED effect; moreover, he exhibits most interestingly the tacit assumptions as well as the freshly-formed ideas and attitudes of his time and circumstances, and emanates a sense of glory that always accompanies large-scale political changes like the Medici assumption of power in Florence. All things considered, this essay is arguably hallowed Scripture for a great many of our world's leaders hitherto.
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