One must consider the final result

(A ruler) cannot and should not keep his word when to do so would go against his interests or when the reason he pledged it no longer holds.

One should never allow chaos to develop in order to avoid going to war, because one does not avoid a war but instead puts it off to his disadvantage

And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.

With difficulty he is beaten who can estimate his own forces and those of his enemy.

He who is the cause of another's advancement is thereby the cause of his own ruin.

One must consider the final result