Politics have no relation to morals.

I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.

Therefore, in order not to have to rob his subjects, to be able to defend himself, not to become poor and contemptible, and not to be forced to become rapacious, a prince must consider it of little importance if he incurs the name of miser, for this is one of the vices that permits him to rule.

The leader should know how to enter into evil when necessity commands.

Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.

There is nothing so difficult or so dangerous as to undertake to change the order of things.

A prince is also respected when he is a true friend and a true enemy; that is, when he declares himself on the side of one prince against another without any reservation.