Besides what has been said, people are fickle by nature; and it is a simple to convince them of something but difficult to hold them in that conviction; and, therefore, affairs should be managed in such a way that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.

Men as a whole judge more with their eyes than with their hands.

A battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours. In the same way, by losing one, all the good things worked by you before become vain.

The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms.

The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.

it is better to act and repent than not to act and regret.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.