"The end justifies the means" - not yet knowing who the author of these words was, for what reason they were said and what they mean, we remember almost from childhood: it should not be so, it is immoral and cynical. Getting older, we learn that these words belong to the Italian Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), and we find his other maxims: "All armed prophets won, and all unarmed perished," "Resentments must be inflicted at once: the less they are tried, the less harm from them," "The sovereign, if he wants to maintain power, must acquire the ability to retreat from good and use this skill, depending on the need" and many others.