Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books.

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.

I have never had any [enemies] other than those of the state.

First, all means to conciliate; failing that, all means to crush.

Never write a letter and never destroy one.

A single word has sometimes lost or won an empire.

Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books.