The Gap Between How Leaders Are Supposed to Act and How They Must Act — The Prince

Machiavelli turns from arms to conduct, warning that he will depart from other writers because he follows the real truth of the matter, not imaginary republics that were never seen. How one lives is so far from how one ought to live that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done destroys himself sooner than he preserves himself. A man who tries to live entirely by professions of virtue is ruined among so much evil.

A prince who wishes to hold his own must therefore know how to do wrong, and use that knowledge or not according to necessity. Machiavelli sets aside imaginary princes and lists the qualities for which men, especially princes, are praised or blamed: liberal or miserly, generous or rapacious, cruel or compassionate, faithful or faithless, bold or cowardly, affable or haughty, sincere or cunning, religious or unbelieving, and the rest.

Everyone admits it would be best to show all the good qualities, but human conditions do not permit it. The prince must be prudent enough to avoid the reproach of vices that would lose him his state, keep away when possible from vices that would not, and when he cannot, accept the lesser vices with less hesitation. He need not worry about blame for vices without which the state can barely be saved, because what looks like virtue may ruin him while what looks like vice may bring security and prosperity.