Waste no time with revolutions that do not remove the causes of your complaints but simply change the faces of those in charge.

He is less likely to be mistaken who looks forward to a change in the affairs of the world than he who regards them as firm and stable.

I know no man who feels deeper disgust than I do at the ambition, avarice, and profligacy of the priesthood, as well because every one of these vices is odious in itself, as because each of them separately and all of them together are utterly abhorrent in men making profession of a life dedicated to God.

Conspiracies, since they cannot be engaged in without the fellowship of others, are for that reason most perilous; for as most men are either fools or knaves, we run excessive risk in making such folk our companions.

Ambition is not in itself an evil; nor is he to be condemned whose spirit prompts him to seek fame by worthy and honourable ways.

It is a great matter to be in authority over others; for authority, if it be rightly used, will make you feared beyond your actual resources.

Ambassadors are the eye and ear of states.