In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions.
Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.
I cannot live one day without love.
I like to praise and reward loudly, to blame quietly.
I may be kindly, I am ordinarily gentle, but in my line of business I am obliged to will terribly what I will at all.
The trouble is that my heart is loath to be without love even for a single hour. ... If you want to keep me forever, then show as much friendship as love, and more than anything else, love me and tell me the truth.