The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

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.

Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony

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.

One of the great secrets of the day is to know how to take possession of popular prejudices and passions, in such a way as to introduce a confusion of principles which makes impossible all understanding between those who speak the same language and have the same interests.

Hence it comes that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed.