A prince need trouble little about conspiracies when the people are well disposed, but when they are hostile and hold him in hatred, then he must fear everything and everybody.

Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.

War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.

A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savor of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.

If the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.

There is nothing so difficult or so dangerous as to undertake to change the order of things.

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.