The Prince

Although he never said it, the phrase the end justifies the means is attributed to him, since he summarizes many of the ideas contained in Chapter XVIII of The Prince: only the result justifies the action, being also the creator of the concept of the reason of state, fundamental in Politics, and that is found later in Guicciardini and Giovanni della Casa, although only with Giovanni Botero it will be developed as a doctrine (Della Ragion di Stato, 1589). Machiavelli expounds it in his Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livius (book III, chapter 41): "That the fatherland must always be defended with ignominy or glory, and in any way it will be defended