Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

1392 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Niccolo machiavelli the prince essay

“The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli is a great piece of work that is widely known as one of the key books on how to lead. The book is effectively a how-to manual that describes the certain characteristics that are desired for a person to lead well. Machiavelli offers quite a bit of insight on how to lead and questions whether people are strong enough to lead. “The Prince” while a good manual of how to lead at the time is now somewhat outdated. Although many people would probably relate w out the ideas of Machiavelli to keep themselves in charge, would be appalled if the same practices where demonstrated on them. This being said most of Machiavelli’s are ideas and beliefs can all be terrific ways to lead as long as they stay within reason. “The Prince” is …show more content…

The skills of a prince are being a strong leader and to have perseverance. These two skills are ideal of a prince because they truly demonstrate how a person builds an empire around them. If a prince were to inherit leadership through someone else’s virtue they must have the ability to continue the leadership successfully. This is an example of conquest by fortune, meaning that the person in front of the prince directly gave the prince his power. Secondly the prince must be a powerful leader because he must have the ability to lead. This ability to lead is a very important skill because it demonstrates how the rest of your leadership will go. If you lead and people do not like what you are telling them they will start to resist your changes. The real skill is the ability to make the people listen to what you have to say without having them rebel against you. If they were to rebel a true prince would have the ability to be able to squash the rebellion and continue leading how he wants to. In “The Prince” it shows that Machiavelli recommend the idea of monarchy as his form of government. This is because in a monarchy

Show More
Related

  • The Qualities Of A Prince Rhetorical Analysis

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How To Choose A Leader By Maurizio Viroli

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maurizio Viroli, author of “How to Choose a Leader,” used Machiavelli’s principles to explain how modern leaders should be chosen. It can be assumed that Viroli would not embrace Machiavelli’s principles as a guide if he believed Strauss’s argument that Machiavelli was a teacher of evil. Viroli points out that Machiavelli’s life dream was to share the information contained within the pages of The Prince. He argued that Machiavelli would only give the best of council in his endeavor to teach others the knowledge it took him his entire life to obtain . If this were not the case, Viroli argues that Machiavelli’s contributions would have long since been disregarded. Machiavelli provides

    Read More

  • Comparing Leadership In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Machiavelli’s The Prince

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... learned. Nevertheless, a leader can always learn to be better. In the two books, Julius Caesar and The Prince, it showed many things regarding how a leader should be and act, and there are many things that an individual can learn from these two books. A few examples of leadership that can be learned from the two books are generosity, taking initiative, accountability, and personal values. All of these traits begin by the individual realizing who he is and where he stands to becoming a leader. Like Jack Welch said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

    Read More

  • Machiavelli's Argument Analysis

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many would argue on the topic of Machiavelli and his advice for people who are looking to have power and maintain it which is mentioned in "The Prince". The argument is whether Machiavelli's ideas can be used in todays society or not. Machiavelli brings up in his writings about people in the past, and uses them as an example to show how his tactics he brings forth worked and helped rulers maintain a steady kingdom. Machiavelli talks on how a prince should be towards his enemies and friends. His advice pretty mcuh relies on not trusting just anybody.

    Read More

  • Macchiavelli's Advice on Power

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    The basis of Machiavelli’s theory and ideas came from his most famous quote, “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” He has a very strict policy as to how a prince should act. Rather than being caring, he believes in strong punishment. He has a “Sit in the corner and think!” type attitude towards the people. His ideas were extreme, but they have been proved to work. They are effective and learning from Machiavelli is something any ruler should do. In his book he explains all the things a ruler shouldn’t do and balances it with all the things that should be done.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Power In Machiavelli's The Prince

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is due to the predecessor setting the principality to the upcoming prince, or the next-generation princes, to rule without revising the entire composition or DNA of the principality to be gainful to the prince, since it is already fixed by the former. There is already custom that the people will practice and obey, in which does not need a prince with great abilities and skill to rule and to mould such principalities. However, as Machiavelli asserts, a prince with an average skill, at this manner of principality, will be easy to be dethroned by usurping forces or strong forces. Machiavelli also stated that princes of hereditary principalities will be more loved than hated, except for the ones that exercise extreme vices or other misdeeds that would put off the citizens and others to follow and accord to the prince’s rule, because these princes have moderate or lesser desires and needs to want from his people. Thus, the situation is that the prince would be more considerate and caring for his people, or less

    Read More

  • Gilgamesh Leadership Essay

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    How to become a successful and strong leader? What are essential characteristics that are imperative to become one? These questions were asked many centuries ago, as well as they are asked today. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote one of the most influential treatises on leadership that is still utilized in politics and management today. One of the defining conceptions he explores is locating a balance between being virtuous and righteous and practicing carefully selected deceit and cunning.

    Read More

  • The Failure Of Leadership In Prince Escalus And Richard II

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characters that portray leadership in Shakespeare’s plays like dukes, kings, and generals are chaotic at best and are at times questionable in their leading roles. From characters like Duke Vincentio to more subtle rulers like Prince Escalus, all have had their fair share of leadership mishaps which sometimes proved as a huge mistake. Throughout history we are able to analyze the successful rulers and the unsuccessful rulers and the flaws that they did and did not possess compared to others. So what makes a good ruler and what qualities separate the true leaders from the not so good leaders?

    Read More

  • The Morals of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although Machiavelli gives numerous points on what it takes to excel as a prince, he also shows some raw examples of how he feels a prince should act in order to achieve maximum supremacy. First, when he says, "ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern" proves Machiavelli feels mighty adamant about his view that being mean will help a prince achieve success (332). It is absurd to imagine the meanest prince as the most successful. Also, when Machiavelli states, "our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft" revealing his attitude to manipulate people into fearing and respecting the prince (335). Also, Machiavelli shows that for a prince to be successful, he must not think about good faith.

    Read More

  • Niccoló Machiavelli's The Qualities Of The Prince

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    Niccoló Machiavelli claims in “The Qualities of the Prince” that a prince must have certain qualities that will allow him to seize and maintain his power as a ruler. Machiavelli asserts that these qualities will guarantee the ruler to be able to govern his subjects effectively. According to him, a prince must study the art of war, must understand generosity and to what extent he must be generous to be effective, must choose to either be loved or feared, and be able to keep his word to his citizens according to the situation. These qualities can still apply in today’s politics, and will be useful for a modern time politician as long as they are used carefully.

    Read More

  • Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aristotle’s view on ethics is very clearly centered around the golden mean, which, is the belief that moral behavior is the mean between two extremes. He does not believe in excess, nor does he believe in deficiencies: the perfect mix is moderation of the two. This was also said by modern philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli in his book The Prince, “The virtuous man, is the man of the mean”. So, some examples of things that would be in excess compared to a deficiency for clarification would be - rashness to cowardice, excess eating to anorexia, rudeness to being a pushover. And, the means of these would respectively be - Courage, moderately eating when one is hungry, and being polite to those who extend the same courtesy.

    Read More

  • Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince: A Guide to Being an Effective Ruler

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Prince”, by Niccolo Machiavelli, is a series of letters written to the current ruler of Italy, Lorenzo de’ Medici. These letters are a “how-to” guide on what to do and what not to do. He uses examples to further express his views on the subject. The main purpose was to inform the reader how to effectively rule and be an acceptable Prince. Any ruler who wishes to keep absolute control of his principality must use not only wisdom and skill, but cunning and cruelness through fear rather than love. Machiavelli writes this book as his summary of all the deeds of great men.

    Read More

  • Machiavelli The Prince Review

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Prince by Niccol Machiavelli isn't about one man's ways to feed his power hungry mindset through gluttony, nor is it just explaining altercations between a nation's states. This writing is regarding how one's self-confidence can make them become powerful in a society and also, the way morals and politics differ and can be separated in a government. Originally, Machiavelli wrote The Prince to gain support from Lorenzo de' Medici, who during the era, was governor of Florence. As meant as writing about how a society should be run, this book has been read by many people around the world who want to have better knowledge of the perfect stability of beliefs and politics required to run a good civilization. Enlightening people from the average Joe to the high monarchs of countries, The Prince is one of the best, if not the best, books relating to politics of all time.

    Read More

  • Separating Political Conduct and Personal Morality in Niccolò Machiavelli's, The Prince

    2147 Words  | 5 Pages

    Niccolò Machiavelli wrote, in his novel The Prince, that strong central political leadership was more important than anything else, including religion and moral behavior. Machiavelli, writing during a period of dramatic change known as the Italian Renaissance, displayed attitudes towards many issues, mostly political, which supported his belief that strong government was the most important element in society. These attitudes and ideas were very appropriate for the time because they stressed strong, centralized power, the only kind of leadership that seemed to be working throughout Europe, and which was the element Italy was lacking. Machiavelli understood that obtaining such a government could not be done without separating political conduct and personal morality, and suggested that the separation be made. The Prince, written to the Medici family over five hundred years ago contained many truths, so universal and accurate that they still influence politics today.

    Read More

  • Machiavelli's list of virtues

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through his many years of experience with Italian politics Machiavelli wrote “The Prince”; a how-to guide for new rulers. We are given descriptions of what a leader should do to effectively lead his country. A leader should be the only authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect a policy to serve his best interests. These interests are gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power. Machiavelli’s idea is that a ruler should use a variety of strategies (virtues) to secure his power. Machiavelli lists five virtues that a ruler should appear to have; being compassionate, trustworthy, generous, honest and religious. A ruler should possess all the qualities considered good by other people.

    Read More

More about Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

Open Document