Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.
The human race is governed by its imagination.
The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.
Neglect of duty does not cease, by repetition, to be neglect of duty.
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.
Do you know what is more hard to bear than the reverses of fortune? It is the baseness, the hideous ingratitude, of man.