The_Qualities_of_the_Prince

The Qualities of the Prince Past and Present Analysis of Views on Human Nature In his work, “The Qualities of the Prince”, Machiavelli shares his views on the key requirements for leadership. He believes that in order to effectively continue an esteemed status of leadership, there are necessary qualities that one must personify. Although these qualities may not generally be accepted in society as fair or even moral, Machiavelli maintains that a reputable leader is efficient in battle, superior in mentality, and effective in manipulation. He also states that although a leader may not actually possess these characteristics, it is important to appear to the rest of the inhabitants of the empire as possessing them because, in the writer’s judgment, most of the populace cannot achieve greatness and therefore must be led. Machiavelli’s overall view of human nature is that while a leader will be strong, wise, and wealthy, most other people are weak, naïve, and envious. Machiavelli believes most people by nature are weak. He probes even further into this theory to show that because of this inherent weakness in the general population, a leader should constantly strive to develop strategies that will utilize the weaknesses of the many to increase his strength and machiavelli, prince, qualities, people, person, leader, weak, nature, naïve, human, should, envious, one, envy, others, another, way, even, believes, being, because, work, while, weakness, populace, leadership, 1513, view, traits, strength, same, power, possible, possess, necessary, must