The Prince  (English, Paperback, Machiavelli Niccolo)

The Prince is a novel by Niccolo Machiavelli, where he provides the readers with key insights into the qualities that make a successful leader.

Summary Of The Book

The Prince throws light on a number of influential factors that shape a leader. He starts off by talking about fate, explaining that an individual who sets aside his convenience to bring about happiness will definitely be inconvenienced, and can never be sure of being thanked as well. Machiavelli hailed from a poor family, which made him realize that helping others involved making a sacrifice, which would often go thankless. He also placed great faith in fate, attributing it to every event that took place in his life.

He then goes to discuss principality, its types and how it can be acquired. He also explains how an individual can hold onto these principalities and lose them, during a time of poverty and fear due to the governing regime. Machiavelli explains that his intention behind writing this book was to enable Prince Lorenzo become a highly successful and powerful ruler. However, at the same time, he understood that Lorenzo may not become a ruler in time to come, thereby making it a reference for the unknown new leader. Machiavelli didn’t write this book according to his own expectations, but in accordance with his knowledge of how power works.

Machiavelli noted down all the political incidents around him sans any frills. Through the course of this book, he explains that the only thing that matters to a prince is amassing power and maintaining it. He goes to explain that human beings are inert masses that can be molded according to the prince’s desire. Machiavelli reiterates the fact that a good prince is he, who is able to make the uttermost use of his people’s knowledge. The main focus of this book is not only on the fact that power exists, but it is the only thing that’s prevalent.

He also shrugs the idealistic principalities and republics made known by previous philosophers. He explains that there is a vast distance between pragmatic and utopian life, stating that individuals should consider the way things are, rather than the way they should be. Machiavelli also throws light on five vital qualities, which he believes, leaders should possess to amass and maintain political power.

About Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli was an author, politician, philosopher, humanist, diplomat, and historian.

Apart from this book, Machiavelli has also written Discourses On Livy, The Essential Writings Of Machiavelli, and The Art Of War.

Machiavelli was born on 3rd May, 1469, in Florence, Republic of Florence. Machiavelli served as an official in the Florentine Republic for several years, where he carried out military and diplomatic affairs. He founded the present-day form of Political Science. He served as the Secretary for the Second Chancery of the Florence Republic. Machiavelli passed away on 21st June, 1527, in Florence, Republic of Florence.