A prince who is not himself wise cannot be wisely advised. . . . Good advice depends on the shrewdness of the prince who seeks it, and not the shrewdness of the prince on good advice.

One can say this in general of men: they are ungrateful, disloyal, insincere and deceitful, timid of danger and avid of profit...Love is a bond of obligation that these miserable creatures break whenever it suits them to do so; but fear holds them fast by a dread of punishment that never passes.

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.

For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

It is much safer for the prince to be feared than loved, but he ought to avoid making himself hated.

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.