Where princes are concerned, a man who is able to do good is as dangerous and almost as criminal as a man who intends to do evil.

Weakness has many stages. There is a difference between feebleness by the impotency of the will, of the will to the resolution, of the resolution to the choice of means, of the choice of the means to the application.

One of man's greatest failings is that he looks almost always for an excuse, in the misfortune that befalls him through his own fault, before looking for a remedy-which means he often finds the remedy too late.

Timorous minds are much more inclined to deliberate than to resolve.

Weak souls always set to work at the wrong time.

Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand.

Great men help dazzle the people; after that, they dazzle themselves even more dangerously.