Published in 1532 posthumously, written in 1513 by Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian Renaissance historian, The Prince is now considered to be very influential. It was written in the vernacular Italian instead of Latin. The main theme suggests how to obtain power and how to keep it.
The Prince is a short read and overall not too complex to digest. It’s widely read, studied in major universities, and is a must read for politically-minded thinkers. It seems to me the potential of this writing is the mindset of what rulers really think. Machiavelli is giving us a front row seat to the arena, which otherwise we might not have absorbed the culture. This is a rare glimpse of what power is all about.
Surprisingly, I found Machiavelli’s work an interesting read. I was pleasantly surprised with his observations of life in general. Many of his ideas would hold much weight in today’s complex world.
Machiavelli answered the question between choosing fear and love : The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved. Chapter 17, page. 60.
“It is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves,” Machiavelli addresses to his readers, in Chapter XVIII in The Prince.
Three popular works have come from Italy and have been translated around the world — The Prince, Divine Comedy, and Pinocchio. Machiavelli would have been utterly amazed that his work would have done so well some 500 years later. In fact, his ideas are arguably more relevant in today’s environment!
In the year 1513, Machiavelli was accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and he was actually arrested. A professor from the United Kingdom claimed that he found the original warrant in Florence.
The phrase the end justifies the means is pure Machiavellianism, disregarding behavioral attitudes concerning morality. Good or evil is simply not part of the equation; self-interest and personal gain is the entire focus. It should be stated that not all philosophers agree with this psychology. However, many politicians do agree and keep the book readily at arm’s length.
Ironically, the author Niccolò Machiavelli was supposedly passionate and not the macho man as portrayed. From a more unique perspective, there is now a vivid portrayal of the great Italian philosopher: Niccolo’s Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli.
