Machiavellian describes fans of Machiavelli, the Renaissance philosopher who wrote things like “It is much safer to be feared than loved” and “If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.” Modern psychiatrists even use it to describe a kind of personality disorder, a cold selfishness. When Machiavelli's first works were published, they were seen by some to be dangerous and amoral, and the word Machiavellian was coined.