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Monday, October 25, 2010

To be loved or to be feared?

I have recently been reading The Prince by Machiavelli, It is an intriguing book, and I encourage you to divulge in its writings. One thing that really just stabbed my hand is that Machiavelli suggests that for a leader or simply one in command, it is better to be feared rather than loved. The way I see it, if you are feared, people build up a sort of awe-inspired love and an honoring love rather than a love of affection. It would make you successful but possibly unhappy. While being loved without a healthy sense of fear is much like a situation in which a loving family with no intention of disciplining a rebellious child is allowed to be pushed over by the child who is ungrateful of the support of the parents. So later Machiavelli, smart man as he was probably thought this through, mentions that you cannot be a successful leader without love, so he says that you must be feared with enough love to not be hated. Its an interesting concept.

1 comment:

  1. Machiavelli was indeed a smart man. I am looking forward to all of your blog posts of the future.

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