Practice modes
Languages & Literature
Pakistan
World & History
by Niccolò Machiavelli · 1532 (written 1513) · Italian
Written for the Medici rulers of Florence. Machiavelli says a ruler should ideally be both feared and loved, but if he must choose it is safer to be feared, and that he must be both a fox and a lion. It separated politics from conventional morality.
A realistic guide for rulers on gaining and keeping power; gave us the word 'Machiavellian'.