We may employ artifice to deceive a rival, anything against our enemies.

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.

Reason must be the universal rule and guide; all things must be done according to reason without allowing oneself to be swayed by emotion.

One must believe neither the people of the palace, who ordinarily measure the power of the king by the shape of his crown, which, being round, has no end, nor those who, in the excesses of an indiscreet zeal, proclaim themselves openly as partisans of Rome.

Deception is the knowledge of kings.

Wise judges are we of each other!

Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.