Hand drawn, hand carved, supposed to be Italic, this sandstone was very hard but lovely to work with. I re-read Niccolo Machiavelli's political treatise, The Prince, during summer of '22 and came up with these words to carve as an homage to him and perhaps some of the political decisions made by modern and current leaders and past ones. It is a well known fact that many a politician admires and reveres Machiavelli and also espouses his ideas as somehow idyllic. As I was reading, I made some arguments against Machiavelli's points (as I imagine many have done in the past!) but overall I enjoyed the book. Machiavelli has been connected to the devil (!) in the past for his supposed cunning and wicked ways but, personally, I think there is a lot that makes sense in The Prince. In fact, these words, Cruelty for the sake of power, reflect Machiavelli by also stating that cruelty should essentially be used for no other reason and a leader should not become hated e.g by being excessively cruel. Machiavelli is plentiful with his examples of where, how and why leaders have failed or succeeded. I value The Prince especially as a must read for young people thinking of politics. However, I think one should remember The Prince was not the only thing Machiavelli wrote!