He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must thereafter fall with the greatest loss.

Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.

And above all you ought to guard against leading an army to fight which is afraid or which is not confident of victory. For the greatest sign of an impending loss is when one does not believe one can win.

For, in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying

They have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly, but they have many when they reach the summit.

He who builds on the people, builds on the mud

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