The Skill of Running a State Among the most widely read of the Renaissance thinkers was Niccolo Machiavelli. Born in Florence, Italy in 1469, he became a politician who retired from public service and devoted the proceeding years to writing about history, political philosophy, and even plays. His political philosophy's concentrated on the skills required for successfully running a state. Machiavelli focused on the way things are, rather than the way things ought to be. In 1513, …showed first 75 words of 1883 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1883 total…Machiavelli portrays in "The Prince". Nobody wants to help a weak person without benefiting from his or her services, that is human nature's way of thinking. Thus, Machiavelli stresses that it is imperative that a ruler be feared and gain this reputation through his own actions. Nonetheless, Machiavelli states his points on why a prince should avoid being hated if he plans to continue to rule even if he has to be deceitful and corrupt.