Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli (3 May 1469 - 21 June 1527) was a Florentine Renaissance man, statesman, and writer. He was a diplomat and government official in the Medici period of the Florentine Republic. Machiavelli is best known for writing about political philosophy. He also wrote poetry, plays, carnival songs, history books, military science books, and some of the best-known personal letters in the Italian language. His best known book is The Prince from 1513. It was not published until 1532, which was five years after he died.
Many people use the word Machiavellian to mean "evil" because his ideas have been viewed by some as wicked. Many historians today still have debates on what he really thought. Nevertheless, Machiavelli is remembered for being an important realism theorist. But realism theory was actually already a big trend in Florence at the time. Machiavelli's ideas are focused mostly on a unique understanding of virtue, statesmanship, and fortune ().
Thoughts
There are many interpretations of his thoughts. Some of his main thoughts were:
Virtue doesn't always come from being morally good. A stable country or government also doesn't come from being morally good.
Free will controls almost half of human life, and the rest is controlled by chance or fortune ().
A leader needs useful leadership virtues rather than ordinary virtues. Ordinary virtues can often be wrong for leaders.
Weaker virtues are less needed than stronger ones. Fortune () only respects strong virtues, and so do soldiers.
Greatness and excellence are the best examples to follow.
When people look at the past as it should have been and give up on the past as it was, they are giving up on survival.
Being hated is always worse than just being feared.
Relying less on things you can not control is a virtue. It is always best to know what limits you (including morals).
Knowing when to be good and when to be bad is a virtue. A leader should only use cruelty when they have to.
Trying to always be morally good usually ends badly. For leaders, it is better to be well liked.
A leader should not try to oppress people or interfere with their women and belongings. Otherwise things will end badly for them.
Leaders will not even listen to advice unless they are partly wise.
In times of peace, it is best to prepare for upcoming danger. It can be wise to choose situations where people's hard work is needed for survival.
The Prince
The Prince is a political book by Niccolo Machiavelli. He first shared the book privately in 1513. But it was not published until 1532. The book gives instructions for how a prince or ruler should do politics.
He looks especially at what he calls the "new prince", saying that a prince from a royal family has an easier job because the people are used to his family and the way of life. All that such a hereditary prince needs to do is carefully stick to the traditional ways of working that the people are used to. A new prince has a much more difficult job because he must get people used to his new power and build up new ways of working that people can get used to. This job means that the new prince has to act in a way people would not quickly criticize, but Machiavelli says this may mean doing bad but necessary things which people do not see or remember. Otherwise a new prince will find it difficult to get anything important done, or even to keep ruling.
Other books
The Discourses on Livy online 1772 edition
The Seven Books on the Art of War online 1772 edition
History of Florence online 1901 edition
Reform of Florence online 1772 edition
The Private Correspondence of Niccolo Machiavelli, ed. Orestes Ferrara; 1929. online edition
Bilingual edition of The Woman from Andros, The Mandrake, and Clizia, edited by David Sices and James B. Atkinson.
Other websites
The complete Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli with cliff notes
References
1469 births
1527 deaths
16th-century philosophers
Civil servants
Italian philosophers
Italian playwrights
Writers from Florence