This book edition of Machiavelli: The Prince has been formatted to the highest digital
standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. The Prince is a political treatise by
the Florentine philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli written c. 1513. The Prince is sometimes
claimed to be one of the first works of modern political philosophy in which the effective
truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict
with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider
politics and ethics. Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to the ruling Medici of the time leading
some today to still speculate whether the book was a satire. Niccolò Machiavelli asserted that
The Prince (president dictator prime minister etc.) does not have to be concerned with
ethics as long as their motivation is to protect the state. It is this questionable belief
that in many ways had lead to the modern world as we know it. His assertionwas that the head of
state must protect the state no matter the cost and no matter what rules he or she breaks in
the process.
