A prince should suspect everything.

There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Democracy may become frenzied, but it has feelings and can be moved. As for aristocracy, it is always cold and never forgives.

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny.

The object of war is victory, the object of victory is conquest, and the object of conquest is occupation.

Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.

The first quality of a soldier is constancy in enduring fatigue and hardship. Courage is only the second. Poverty privation and want are the school of the good soldier.