Every little advantage is of great moment when men have to come to blows.

He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his.

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

Minds are of three kinds: one is capable of thinking for itself; another is able to understand the thinking of others; and a third can neither think for itself nor understand the thinking of others. The first is of the highest excellence, the second is excellent, and the third is worthless.

How perilous it is to free a people who prefer slavery.

One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain; and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons when danger is far away; but when it comes nearer to you, they turn away.

...people are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.