There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.

So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.

There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.

Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.

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

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

Men are less hesitant about harming someone who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared because love is held together by a chain of obligation which, since men are wretched creatures, is broken on every occasion in which their own interests are concerned; but fear is sustained by dread of punishment which will never abandon you.