From the latter he is defended by being well armed and having good allies, and if he is well armed he will have good friends, and affairs will always remain quiet within when they are quiet without, unless they should have been already disturbed by conspiracy; and even should affairs outside be disturbed, if he has carried out his preparations and has lived as I have said, as long as he does not despair, he will resist every attack.

The end of the republic is to enervate and to weaken all other bodies so as to increase its own body.

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

...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune.

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.

The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.

He who is the cause of another's advancement is thereby the cause of his own ruin.