means

means are the ways you get what you want

for example,
subterfuge, physicality, politics, deception, honesty, prostration, democracy and totalitarianism
are all ways of getting something you (or someone else) wants.

the old cliché:

"do the ends justify the means, or the means justify the ends?"

presupposes justification, which is probably an error
however, i would guess you select whatever means are needed to gain the ends; this is why good and evil break down situationally