Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.

Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.

And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

Men as a whole judge more with their eyes than with their hands.

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.