Machiavelli's The Prince

Abraham Lincoln once said “Any man can stand up against adversity, to see a mans true character give him power.” There are many wasy to obtain power, most of which involve some less than honest actions. Machiavelli was a noble in Italy during a time of unstability. As such he wrote a guide on how to be an effective leader, this guide was titled “The Prince”. One of the main themes of this was that the end justifies the means, that you could and should do whatever is necessary in order to reach the desiered result. There is no such thing as a perfect ruler, there is only effective rulers and ineffective rulers. Macchiaveli wrote his book so that he could explain what believed made someone an effective ruler. Being a leader of any sort is