You may have to sacrifice neo-christian visions of kindness for the sake of practical effectiveness. We may have to lie in order to keep our relationship afloat.  We may have to ignore the feelings of certain employees to keep a business going. And that, insists Makiaveli, is the price of dealing with the world as it is, and not as we feel it should be. He insists on focusing our attention on the uncomfortable tension between two things we love and always want to have together, but perhaps can't - effectiveness and kindness.