A Renaissance diplomat argued rulers should act badly when necessity demands it

Writing in 1513 after being exiled from Florentine politics, Niccolo Machiavelli argued in The Prince that effective rulers must sometimes abandon conventional morality, being feared rather than loved, breaking promises, or acting cruelly and decisively, if it secures the stability of the state. The word 'Machiavellian' entered the language as shorthand for cunning, amoral political strategy.

— Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince — Written 1513, published 1532
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