- Lived:
- 1469–1527 · Florence, Italy
- Tradition:
- Renaissance political thought; the founding of political realism
- The Big Idea:
- To understand politics, study power as it actually works — the "effectual truth" — not as moralists wish it worked; and know that a leader who refuses ever to do wrong will be destroyed by those who feel no such scruple.
- In their words:
- "It appeared to me more fitting to go directly to the effectual truth of the thing than to the imagination of it."
- If you remember one thing:
- The man whose name became a synonym for evil was a devoted republican and patriot — and the little book that damned him may be the most misread masterpiece in the history of political thought.