Myth: Machiavelli Endorsed Tyranny

Niccolò Machiavelli is considered one of the most important political thinkers of all time and more or less a father of realpolitik - a realistic and pragmatic approach to politics. Machiavelli is often associated with total disregard of morality, total endorsement of tyranny, deceit and general cruelty. Which is incredibly far from being true.

One of the main problems for this kind of misunderstanding lies in his most famous work - “The Prince”. Usually it is the only work by Machiavelli that people read. And most of the time they don’t even read “The Prince”, they read quotes taken out of context.