A wise ruler should rely on what is under his own control, not on what is under the control of others.

I hold it to be of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither the one nor the other in any way diminishes the strength of the enemy; but the one makes him more cautious, and the other increases his hatred of you, and makes him more persevering in his efforts to injure you

Men are less hesitant about harming someone who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared because love is held together by a chain of obligation which, since men are wretched creatures, is broken on every occasion in which their own interests are concerned; but fear is sustained by dread of punishment which will never abandon you.

The nature of man is such that people consider themselves put under an obligation as much by the benefits they confer as by those they receive.

....those who become princes through their skill acquire the pricipality with difficulty, buy they hold onto it with ease.

To keep your actions and your plans secret always has been a very good thing . .. Marcus Crassus said to one who asked him when he was going to move the army: 'Do you believe that you will be the only one not to hear the trumpet?

Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony