Many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his preservation.

This line comes from Machiavelli’s The Prince (Il Principe), written in 1513 after the Medici returned to power in Florence and Machiavelli—formerly a Florentine diplomat and secretary—was dismissed, imprisoned, and then forced into political retirement. In the treatise he offers advice to rulers on acquiring and maintaining power in the unstable, war-torn politics of Renaissance Italy. The remark appears as he turns away from idealized political theory toward what he calls the “effectual truth” of politics, arguing that a ruler who governs by how people ought to behave, rather than how they actually behave, risks destruction.

Machiavelli contrasts moral idealism with political realism. He argues that political writers often design imaginary states and perfect virtues, but real governance must reckon with human self-interest, fear, ambition, and fickleness. The warning is not that morality is irrelevant, but that a ruler who consistently chooses “ought” over “is” without regard to circumstances will be outmaneuvered by less scrupulous rivals and may lose both power and the ability to secure the commonwealth. The passage signals Machiavelli’s broader claim that effective rule sometimes requires actions conventionally judged vicious, because survival and stability can depend on adapting to necessity rather than adhering to abstract ideals.