I hold strongly to this: that it is better to be impetuous than circumspect; because fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her.

He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his.

it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.

When every province of the world so teems with inhabitants that they can neither subsist where they are nor remove themselves elsewhere.

A prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers.

He who would foresee what is to happen should look to what has happened: for all that is has its counterpart in time past.

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.