Audacity succeeds as often as it fails; in life it has an even chance.
In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power.
Machiavelli is right: one always must live with one's friends with the idea that they may turn into one's enemies. He should have said, with everyone.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out.
If the art of war were nothing but the art of avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds.... I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.