Renaissance and Reformation Biographies | Niccolò Machiavelli Biography

May 3, 1469
Florence, Italy
May 22, 1527
Florence, Italy

Statesman, author

" … how one lives is so far removed from how one ought to live that he who abandons what one does for what one ought to do, learns rather his own ruin than his preservation."

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince.

The Italian author and statesman Niccolò Machiavelli is best known as the author of The Prince (Il principe), in which he described how a ruler must do whatever is necessary to stay in power. Over the centuries Machiavelli became famous as a sinister and ruthless politician because of this philosophy. Many historians suggest that this reputation is largely undeserved. They point out that Machiavelli lived by his own ideals as a loyal and self-sacrificing servant of government. Furthermore, he never suggested that the political dealings of princes should be...