Change has no constituency.

For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.

You must never believe that the enemy does not know how to conduct his own affairs. Indeed, if you want to be deceived less and want to bear less danger, the more the enemy is weak or the less the enemy is cautious, so much more must you esteem him.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.

Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

To know in war how to recognize an opportunity and seize it is better than anything else.