Wise men say, and not without reason, that whosoever wished to foresee the future might consult the past.

We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed.

States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them

It is much better to tempt fortune where it can favor you than to see your certain ruin by not tempting it.

...the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

Those who either from imprudence or want of sagacity avoid doing so, are always overwhelmed with servitude and poverty; for faithful servants are always servants, and honest men are always poor; nor do any ever escape from servitude but the bold and faithless, or from poverty, but the rapacious and fraudulent.

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.