Practice modes
Languages & Literature
Pakistan
World & History
The Prince, political realism, the ends justify the means
Machiavelli broke with the tradition of writing about how rulers ought to govern virtuously, and instead described, coldly and practically, how power is actually won and kept. He argued a ruler should be judged by results, not conventional morality, and must act like a fox (cunning) or a lion (forceful) as circumstances demand — giving rise to the adjective "Machiavellian".
Florentine diplomat and civil servant who was tortured and exiled after the Medici returned to power, and wrote his most famous work partly to win back political favour.