So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.

One must be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves

Whoever is the cause of another becoming powerful, is ruined himself.

For, besides what has been said, it should be borne in mind that the temper of the multitude is fickle, and that while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion

The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting. For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours; they offer you their blood, their goods, their life, and their children, as I have before said, when the necessity is remote; but when it approaches, they revolt.

No one should therefore fear that he cannot accomplish what others have accomplished, for, men are born, live, and die in quite the same way they always have.

Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.