Political leaders are often evaluated by the success or failure of their actions. However,there is much debate over how these actions should be interpreted . Many people believe that the ends justify the means , while others disagree . Niccolo Machiavelli was a political thinker who argued that the ends justify the means . The Prince is a political treatise by the Florentine diplomat , historian Niccolò Machiavelli . Though the book was written in 1513 , five hundred years later , it is still studied by modern scholars of politics . In the treatise , Machiavelli discusses rulers and politics with the intention of providing princely advice to rulers . The work is notorious for advocating deceit and ruthless actions by those in power . 

        Machiavelli  breaks away from the idealized portraits of political leaders that were common in his day , and instead offers a more realistic view of how rulers actually act . While some leaders may be motivated by altruism or a desire to serve the common good, he believed that most rulers are primarily motivated by self - interest . 

        He proposed the idea that the only way to maintain control over one's subjects was through . fear , as opposed to love . Fear , he argued , was a more powerful motivator than love , and would therefore keep people in line better . This theory has been widely influential , and is still studied and debated today .

       It is true that fear, when it is in the hearts of the subjects, gives the leader the full authority to run their affairs as he wants, even if it is in their favor. But at the same time, he may set his house on fire with his own hand, and do not forget that love and consultation increase the motivation and temptation of the people.

In following their leader, and thus to give everything dear to them in order to support their leader and be in his footsteps.